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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.
74%
a) Alcohol and drug addiction
are preventable, treatable, chronic diseases and are
as consistently diagnosable as other illnesses such as diabetes,
asthma and hypertension.
69%
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:
40%
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.
41%
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.
72%
c) “Zero tolerance” policies
for alcohol and drug use by students on school grounds.
57%
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.
44%
f) There should be a statewide law that
prohibits youth use of alcohol on private property.
35%
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.
75%
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.
41%
c) Increase alcoholic excise taxes and
use the additional revenue to fund addiction treatment.
69%
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.
77%
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.
47%
e) Expand the eligibility criteria for
admission into drug courts to include defendants with two or
more prior third degree convictions.
22%
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.
39%
g) Other
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
