National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence

	Think Advocacy
	Supported Legislation
	Become a Member
	Take Action
	Position Papers
	Election Guide
	Home

CANDIDATE SURVEY RESPONSES

NCADD-NJ surveyed candidates for New Jersey’s Senate and General Assembly about some of the most pressing addiction and prevention issues facing the state. The following results are tabulated from the completed surveys and reflect the percentage of respondents expressing their general agreement with and support for principles and issues related to the prevention and treatment of alcohol and drug addiction. Candidates were also given the opportunity to briefly describe their positions. Individual candidate responses can be viewed in the candidate directory section of this website.

2007 NEW JERSEY STATE LEGISLATIVE ADDICTION
PREVENTION AND TREATMENT SURVEY

I. General Views of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Policies to Address Stigma

Addiction involves multiple factors-biology, environment, and brain mechanisms. Although there are social consequences resulting from addiction, it is a medical problem, not a social one. Despite scientific research demonstrating that addiction is a chronic lifelong disease that needs ongoing care, much like diabetes, hypertension, etc., the public have not yet embraced this concept. Although the American Medical Society accepts addiction as a disease the public acceptance of the “disease model” of addiction, though seemingly broad, is at the same time quite shallow. Public Opinion polling done by NCADD-NJ showed 40 % of New New Jerseyans still believe it is a moral failing. National public opinion polling has shown that even people who say it is a disease are doubtful.

The stigma that surrounds addiction and recovery from addiction stands in the way of people getting treatment, people getting well, and sustaining long term recovery. Studies have found that the stigmatization of alcohol and drug addiction persists.

Indicate which principles you would agree with (if any) regarding your general views of alcohol and drug addiction and policies to address the stigma surrounding addictive illnesses by placing a check mark next to the letter(s) which correspond with your views.

73%	a) Alcohol and drug addiction are preventable, treatable, chronic diseases and are as consistently diagnosable as other illnesses such as diabetes, asthma and hypertension.
70%	b) Alcohol and drug addiction treatment are very effective and work as well as other established medical treatments for illnesses such as diabetes, asthma and hypertension.
46%	c) On the issue of drug use, the nation and state should more heavily emphasize strategies of interdiction and prosecution, which aim to control the problem by reducing the available supply of drugs.
94%	d) The state should more heavily emphasize strategies that favor a public health approach to alcohol and drug addiction and target demand reduction activities, such as prevention and treatment.
	e) The New Jersey State Legislature should act in the following way when legislating on the legality of medicinal marijuana:
39%	Medicinal marijuana should be legal after a Food and Drug Administration’s approval ensuring it is safe and effective.
9%	Medicinal marijuana should be legal without a Food and Drug Administration’s approval.
21%	Medicinal marijuana should not be legalized at all.
2%	f) The state should legalize all illicit drugs.
9%	g) Other

II. Preventing and Reducing Youth Alcohol and Drug Use

According to the 2005 New Jersey Student Health Survey of Middle School and High School students conducted by the New Jersey Department of Education, New Jersey’s youth continue to use alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs at rates that should alarm all concerned citizens in the Garden State. According to the survey, alcohol was the most frequently used substance by New Jersey middle school and high school students. Almost 39% of New Jersey’s middle school students have used alcohol in their lifetime and 79.3% of high school students reported drinking alcohol in their lifetime, with 46.5% having drunk one or more drinks of alcohol within the prior 30 days. The survey also showed that 19.9 percent of high School students reported recent marijuana use and 7 percent of middle school students reported marijuana use in their lifetime and 4 percent used it in the past 30 days.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning the prevention and reduction of youth alcohol and drug use by placing a check mark next to the letter(s) which correspond with your views.

40%	a) Increase alcohol excise taxes in order to fund education campaigns aimed at reducing youth use of alcohol.
85%	b) Dedicate more of the currently collected alcohol excise tax to fund education campaigns aimed at reducing youth use of alcohol.
73%	c) “Zero tolerance” policies for alcohol and drug use by students on school grounds.
58%	d) Enact state wide keg registration requiring retailers to place an identifying tag on each beer keg sold at retail and collect information on the purchaser’s identity so that the police can determine who purchased the keg and hold them accountable for allowing youth to drink from the keg.
84%	e) Develop and implement a counter-marketing campaign that parallels current national anti-drug media campaigns that seeks to combat illicit drug use.
45%	f) There should be a statewide law that prohibits youth use of alcohol on private property.
36%	g) Expand the current mandatory six month license suspension penalties for underage drinking in a vehicle to include alcohol consumed by underage persons in a private or public place.
57%	h) Conduct non-compulsory student surveys without the consent of a parent or guardian to measure youth use and develop programs and policies based on those surveys.
42%	i) Drug testing should take place in schools.
13%	j) Other

III. Public Capacity for Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment

A New Jersey state department Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Advisory Task Force found that about one-half (71,000) of those adults and two-thirds (9,400) of adolescents who demanded treatment for alcohol and drug addiction could not access it
through the state’s treatment system due to limited capacity. As a result, the state has experienced a decline of 9,500 in treatment admissions over the last ten years.

Since 1992 the amount of alcohol excise tax revenue allocated to the Alcohol Education Rehabilitation and Enforcement Fund, which is a dedicated fund established to disburse treatment dollars to counties, has remained at $11 million per year. The result is counties are receiving an insufficient amount of funding from the AEREF to meet their addiction treatment needs.

Indicate which principles (if any) you support concerning expanding public capacity for alcohol and drug addiction treatment by placing a check mark next to the letter(s) which correspond with your views.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning expanding public capacity for alcohol and drug addiction treatment by placing a check mark next to the letter(s) which correspond with your views.

76%	a) Enact treatment on demand initiatives that aim to offer all those seeking publicly funded substance abuse treatment immediate entry into a program.
96%	b) Dedicate more of the currently collected alcohol excise tax to the Alcohol Education, Rehabilitation and Enforcement Fund to fund addiction treatment.
40%	c) Increase alcoholic excise taxes and use the additional revenue to fund addiction treatment.
70%	d) Appropriate additional state general revenue to expand treatment capacity.
79%	e) Dedicate drug forfeiture funds to expand treatment capacity.
3%	f) Other

IV. Criminal Justice and Treating the Addicted Offender

In 2006 The New Jersey Department of Corrections reports that 32 percent of the inmates in New Jersey were incarcerated for a base offense involving drugs and approximately 38 percent of offenders housed in youth complexes were incarcerated for a base drug related offense.

According to a study from Columbia University’s National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse 80% of adult felonies are tied to substance abuse. 60 to 80 percent of the current inmate population is dependent on drugs or alcohol. The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that a third of state inmates reported having committed their current offense while under the influence of drugs, half reported drug use in the month before the offense and two thirds had used drugs regularly.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning expanding private health coverage for alcohol and drug addiction treatment by placing a check mark next to the letter(s) which correspond with your views.

27%	a) Support mandatory-minimum sentences for drug offenses.
91%	b) State support for municipally-based drug courts to intervene earlier in an offender’s criminal behavior and drug use.
78%	c) Allow first- and second-time, non-violent, simple drug possession offenders the opportunity to receive substance abuse treatment instead of incarceration.
88%	d) Establish treatment of criminal offenders as a key part of the entire criminal justice system that encompasses incarceration, probation and parole.
46%	e) Expand the eligibility criteria for admission into drug courts to include defendants with two or more prior third degree convictions.
21%	f) Decrease the 1,000-foot drug free school zone to 200 feet, eliminate the mandatory minimum sentence, but increase the penalty for distributing, dispensing or possessing with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance within those 200 feet to a second-degree crime.
5%	g) Other

V. Other (additional comments)

30%

National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence - New Jersey
360 Corporate Boulevard, Robbinsville, NJ 08691 \| Phone 609.689.0599 \| Fax 609.689.0595
The NCADD-NJ web site is made possible, in part, by a grant from the New Jersey Department of Human Services,
Division of Addiction Services - © 2004-2009 NCADD-NJ, Inc.