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Strickland Hits Portman on Efforts Against Drug Abuse Despite Own Record

As governor, Strickland slashed funding to agency fighting drug and alcohol addiction

Ted Strickland
Ted Strickland / AP
April 21, 2016

The campaign for Ted Strickland, a Democrat looking to unseat Ohio Sen. Rob Portman (R.), called into question the senator’s commitment to drug abuse prevention efforts this week despite Strickland’s own history of slashing funding for drug treatment and prevention.

In response to Portman’s speech highlighting his push against heroin addiction, the Strickland campaign recycled an attack on the Republican senator by slamming him for "[bragging] about drug abuse prevention efforts he voted against funding." A Strickland spokeswoman referred to Portman’s vote last December against the $1.1 trillion omnibus bill, a massive appropriations bill that included funding for states and communities to combat heroin addiction.

Strickland himself has a spotty record on funding programs to combat drug and alcohol abuse. Strickland, who was governor of Ohio from 2007 to 2011, came under fire in 2009 for pushing a budget that cut state funding by more than 30 percent to an agency combating drug and alcohol addiction.

When Strickland proposed slashing state funding to the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services by 28 percent in 2009, the News-Herald, a local Cleveland publication, reported that the cut "would directly involve reduction in treatment and prevention services for alcohol and drug addictions and funding for drug courts." The proposed reduction "deeply concerned" local and statewide officials, the newspaper reported.

Strickland eventually signed a budget for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 that reduced funding for drug and alcohol addiction services by about 30 percent from 2009, amounting to nearly $12 million in cuts, according to state records. Strickland also cut funds for the Ohio Department of Mental Health, which merged with the Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services in 2013 to form the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

Strickland lost his 2010 reelection bid to Gov. John Kasich, now a Republican candidate for president.

The number of people who died of drug overdoses in Ohio has skyrocketed since 2000. The year Strickland took office as governor, unintentional drug poisoning surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of injury death in the state, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

The number of deaths in the state attributed to overdoses increased by more than 8 percent between 2011 and 2012 and reached its highest point in 2013, according to the most recent data from the state agency. Heroin and other opiates are overwhelmingly responsible for drug overdoses in Ohio.

"Ohio is fighting drug abuse through many initiatives on several fronts at the state and local levels involving law enforcement, public health, addiction and treatment professionals, healthcare providers, educators, parents and many others," Richard Hodges, the director of the state’s health department, said last April.

"Many of these initiatives were launched in 2013 or later, and it will take some time for their full impact to be reflected in Ohio’s drug overdose deaths. We know that we’re doing the right things, but the data underscore the need to redouble our efforts."

A spokesman for the state’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services told the Free Beacon that Kasich has taken an "aggressive" approach to fighting opioid addiction and drug overdoses that has resulted in fewer prescription opioids being dispensed and fewer people shopping for controlled substances through doctors.

Portman has advocated for legislation to combat drug addiction in the United States, co-authoring the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act in 2014 with a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues. The bill, which Portman reaffirmed support for during remarks before the Akron Press Club on Monday, would boost funding for treatment of prescription opioid abuse and heroin use.

"It’s in the inner-city, it’s in our suburbs, and it’s in our rural areas," Portman said of opioid addiction in Ohio. "In fact, some say the per-capita use in rural areas is higher than anywhere. And it knows no socio-economic level. It’s not just people who are in poverty. It’s everybody who is affected by it."

Portman’s campaign has made drug abuse a key focus, this week releasing a web advertisement highlighting Portman’s creation of the Coalition for a Drug Free Cincinnati two decades ago.

Portman did not mention Strickland during his Monday remarks, but the Democrat’s campaign shot back quickly, describing his speech as "an exercise in self-serving, D.C. double-talk" and accusing Portman of engaging in "dishonest politics."

The Strickland campaign did not respond to inquiries from the Washington Free Beacon about the former governor’s cuts to funding for drug and alcohol prevention programs.

Strickland’s campaign website touts the former governor’s record fighting drug abuse.

"As governor, I went after this problem through both enforcement and treatment. We brought healthcare and public safety officials together to crack down on illegal prescriptions by launching the Ohio Prescription Drug Taskforce, supported local treatment programs through community grants, and worked to educate thousands of Ohioans about the dangers of addiction," the website reads.