Mary Taylor would borrow $1 billion to fight opioids
GOVERNOR’S RACE
As governor, Mary Taylor says she would ask voters to authorize $1 billion in state borrowing to deploy in the battle against Ohio’s deadly opioid-addiction crisis.
Taylor, lieutenant governor and a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, outlined her plan Thursday to address the opioid epidemic, which ensnared her two adult sons who are now in recovery.
“I am an angry mom who has seen enough. As governor, I intend to see that Ohioans suffering through addiction of their own, or that of a loved one, no longer look to tomorrow with despair, but with hope,” Taylor said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Life Enrichment Center in Dayton.
Taylor proposes seeking voter approval of a 10-year, $1 billion state bond issue to award grants and zero-interest loans to stimulate private and nonprofit investment in addictiontreatment services and research into medical alternatives to opioid painkillers.
“This seed money will be used by the private sector to build a robust, effective and innovative treatment capacity,” Taylor said. “We will fund capital and startup costs of businesses filling a void in any aspect of addiction treatment.”
Some of the funding also would be used to place more narcotics officers on the streets to target dealers and confront “the most challenging and dangerous social problem we face,” the lieutenant governor said.
Addressing the opioid crisis, largely responsible for the 33 percent increase in Ohio overdose deaths to 4,050 last year, is a task confronting all the candidates seeking their party’s nomination for governor in the May 8 primary.
Taylor said she also would work with the Trump administration to seek a Medicaid waiver to give Ohio the flexibility to directly fund treatment centers for all Ohioans, regardless of their insurance coverage.
She proposes creating a cabinet-level drug czar to coordinate an integrated approach to channeling state resources into prevention, law enforcement and treatment. She also would continue to promote and encourage physicians to pursue treatment for patients that doesn’t involve opioid-based painkillers.
Attorney General Mike DeWine, Secretary of State Jon Husted and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci of Wadsworth also are seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination.