U.S. Senate candidate Josh Hawley: U.S. needs to invest in drug treatment programs for opioid addiction

The United States needs to invest in drug treatment programs to combat opioid addiction, Missouri Attorney General and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Hawley said Thursday during a campaign stop in Cape Girardeau.

Hawley said he would like to see the federal government encourage research to develop medicines to help opioid addicts overcome their addiction.

Hawley spoke to reporters after touring Ole Hickory Pits, a business on Nash Road that manufacturers wood-burning barbecue pits.

As attorney general, Hawley has sued three major opioid manufacturers.

Hawley said the drug companies have "deceived the public" in regards to opioids. "We have alleged damages in the hundreds of millions (of dollars)," he told reporters.

He said he also welcomed a lawsuit on the issue filed by Missouri counties including Cape Girardeau County, suggesting litigation is one way to address the problem.

"I think you have to go after them and hold them accountable," Hawley said about the pharmaceutical companies being targeted by the lawsuits.

Missouri ranked fourth in grams of hydrocodone and oxycodone, two common opioids, distributed per person in 2016, according to federal data reported by The Associated Press.

The three largest pharmaceutical distributors shipped enough opioid pills to Missouri from 2012 to 2017 for every person in the state to have 260 doses, The Associated Press said.

Like Hawley, McCaskill also has blasted drug companies for lax oversight of their products.

Hawley used the visit to Ole Hickory Pits to urge voters to "send home" his Democratic opponent, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.

He painted McCaskill as a liberal lawmaker who doesn't share Missouri's conservative values.

He told an audience of about 20 local officials and GOP supporters, if elected, he would fight for Missouri businesses and communities. "I am proud of our way of life," he said.

Hawley praised Donald Trump's U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.

He told reporters Kavanaugh, if confirmed by the Senate, would "swing the balance" of the court to the right on issues from immigration to gun rights,

He criticized McCaskill, who has yet to announce how she will vote on the nomination. "She won't even meet with him," Hawley said.

The GOP candidate told reporters McCaskill is "not an independent" and has voted against conservative judicial nominees in the past.

Hawley called Kavanaugh a "highly qualified nominee" whom he would vote to confirm if he were in the Senate now.

David Knight, owner of Ole Hickory Pits which exports barbecue pits throughout the world, praised Trump's trade policies. Those policies have included raising tariffs on other nations in an effort to strike more favorable deals for the United States.

Knight suggested such policies will pay off in the long run.

"I understand if you are going to make an omelet, you have to crack a few eggs," he told Hawley.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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