John Kasich on Drugs

	John Kasich on Drugs Republican Governor; previously Representative (OH-12); 2000 candidate for President

Don't send mixed signals to kids by legalizing

Sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. Source: GOP "Your Money/Your Vote" 2015 CNBC 1st-tier debate , Oct 28, 2015

The tsunami of drugs threatens families

To treat the mentally ill, 10,000 of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life.

We are rehabbing the drug-addicted. 80% of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10% and the tsunami of drugs is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet.

Source: Fox News/Facebook Top Ten First Tier debate transcript , Aug 6, 2015

50% lower chance of drug use if kids hear "don't do drugs"

"Start Talking": Do you know about this? We've got a lot of new members here. If a young person hears "do not do drugs," there is a 50 percent less chance they will ever do it. A 50 percent less chance. Now, in your districts, you can spread it. We've spoken now, I think--well, I know the last time I checked--to over 26,000 kids. We've gotten teachers involved. And, ladies and gentlemen that are here in Wilmington, I don't care where you are. You're in a restaurant? You walk over there and you see those kids. You tell them to stay off the drugs. [Look at] the tsunami of trouble we have in this community because of addiction. We need to be in our schools. We need to be in our communities. We need to be in our synagogues. We need to be in our churches. We need to be everywhere. Don't leave it to somebody else. Source: State of the State address to 2015 Ohio Legislature , Feb 24, 2015

Refuse to celebrate the drug-filled lifestyle

Go ahead and lend a hand to your neighbor in distress--or even to a stranger whose path you just happened to cross.
Go ahead and tell your kid you won't buy him that Randy Moss jersey, because Randy Moss represents everything that's crass and off-putting about professional sports.
Go ahead and turn off MTV when "The Osbournes" comes on, and refuse to celebrate the drug-filled lifestyle it depicts.
Go ahead and share your gifts with the world around you, even if those gifts have nothing to do with what you do for a living.
Go ahead and do what you can, where you can, whenever you can--because that's leadership, and it's in the doing, the taking care.

Source: Stand For Something, by John Kasich, p.229-230 , May 10, 2006

Voted YES on prohibiting needle exchange & medical marijuana in DC.

Vote to pass a bill that provides $429.1 million in funds for the District of Columbia and approves the District's $6.8 billion budget. Among other provisions, the bill prohibits the use of federal funds for needle exchange programs, prohibits implementing an approved ballot initiative to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana. Reference: Bill sponsored by Istook, R-OK; Bill HR 3064 ; vote number 1999-504 on Oct 14, 1999