David came to this country as a Dreamer at the age of 14 – crossing the border with his sister on his back, as they escaped political turmoil in their native Guatemala. David and his family settled in Southern California, where his mother worked as a janitor, and his father, a carpenter. He learned English in public schools, before earning scholarships to Stanford and Harvard law. As a young man, he came out to his family and friends, and he is now married to his husband of 20 years.
The human tragedy of the Tenderloin was preventable – and we can save lives now by opening a medically-supervised safe injection site where drug treatment and counseling is also available.
But every single county in California should have a safe injection site – so we are taking care of the most vulnerable everywhere and so everyone is doing their fair share. In the State Assembly, that is exactly what I will work to do – make sure there is a safe injection center in every California county.
But that is just the beginning. If you have thought we should “follow the science” then you will agree that we should follow through on the most recent scientific recommendations that we treat addition for what it is – a disease.
We need to get people suffering from this disease in treatment, not jails. A new study just published in the prestigious scientific journal The Lancet makes exactly that recommendation.
By focusing on treating addiction – not criminalizing it – we will all be safer. First of all, we will save lives. But we will also be able to focus on serious and violent crimes more effectively.
This is just common sense – and the science strongly shows that we need to stop jailing addicts and start treating them. We need to take drug use off of our streets and into medically supervised and safe places in every county.
In this race for Assembly corporations and billionaires are spending over $1 million already to stop our surging grassroots campaign and elect their corporate-free candidate.
Why?
Because they know we are not afraid to do what’s right – starting with treating addiction as a disease, not a crime.