I agree with Derek Schmidt
On the danger of fentanyl in Kansas. I just wonder where he was last session when a good number of lawmakers were trying to actually do something about it
I agree with Derek Schmidt - 100 percent.
At least on one issue - that fentanyl is one of the most pressing and urgent issues in our state.
He said that over and over again during a debate with Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday.
It’s frustrating, though, that he didn’t have one word to say about fentanyl when members of his party actively blocked efforts last legislative session to decriminalize fentanyl testing strips - a measure that is proven to prevent overdose deaths, and that had overwhelming bipartisan support from the Kansas House of Representatives.
Now, it seems, Schmidt is mimicking the actions of U.S. Senator Roger Marshall in trying to capture the real concern, suffering, and death around fentanyl by turning it into a dog-whistle issue about border security.
Here are the facts -
Our so-called “porous” border has been an issue for more than a generation. It was a political talking point in the 1970s and 80s, and continues today. This is not new.
There is nothing - zero - that the state of Kansas can do about the “southern” border. It is a federal issue, and all the campaign rhetoric in the world isn’t going to change that fact.
Before fentanyl started coming to the country through Mexico, it came to the U.S. in packages shipped from China. It still gets to the U.S. in a variety of ways - what’s really important, particularly for someone wanting to be governor of Kansas, is what we can do here, in our state, to help people. Talking about the border isn’t going to solve one single problem.
Derek Schmidt could’ve, as the leader of his party in Kansas, encouraged Senate Republicans to support a widely supported, proven, and non-controversial measure that would save lives. In the House we tried multiple times - and multiple ways - to get this measure passed. It was blocked largely by one person - Kellie Warren, who wanted Schmidt’s job as Attorney General.
He could’ve helped. He could’ve said then that he supported it - that he thought this was one of the most concerning issues in our state. But he didn’t. He remained silent, and didn’t say a word about it.
Now, though, there’s a campaign and it seems Schmidt has figured out what Kansans have known for a long time - that fentanyl is killing people. It is poisoning people, and it’s ravaging families. But instead of talking about what we can actually do in Kansas, about policies that we can enact and that we do have control over, he’s turning the real pain and tragedy of Kansans’ into a national level political issue.
This is one of the things I get most disgusted with in politics. And I have to think most Kansans feel the same. We have real issues in this state - and the scourge of fentanyl is one of them. We can do things to help. Wichita did just a few weeks ago by decriminalizing fentanyl testing strips. We could’ve done that last year statewide, and we could’ve used Schmidt’s help to make it happen and get through the blockade set up by a few of his hard-hearted colleagues.
But he didn’t.
We have to expect more from the people who want to lead us. We have to call them out when they seek to turn human suffering into political fodder.
I’m mad about this because we were so close last year. So many times we were so close. And many of us who supported the decriminalization of testing strips knew that it would save lives - and that not getting this done would result in additional deaths.
And it did.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?522679-1/kansas-gubernatorial-debate