As heroin crisis worsened, Young voted against helping Indiana’s first responders fight the epidemic

INDIANAPOLIS – On Friday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a $950,000 grant would be delivered to the Indiana State Police “to address the significant increase in drug-related deaths in the state”—where heroin-related deaths have tripled since 2010. DOJ’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) delivered this grant broken up by $350,000 from the Anti-Heroin Task Force and $600,000 from the Anti-Methamphetamine Program.

While this funding is great news for the state’s first responders who are working tirelessly to combat the heroin crisis in Indiana, it’s also a reminder that Congressman Todd Young voted against funding this life-saving program. Congressman Young himself has called the heroin problem a “crisis,” and warned that “thousands” of children could lose their parents to addiction.

But when the opportunity came to help Hoosiers during this crisis, Congressman Todd Young voted against them –hamstringing the efforts of Indiana police and fire departments. In fact, Congressman Young voted against $7 million for the anti-heroin task force within COPS as part of the Omnibus bill that funded The Substance Abuse And Mental Health Administration and the Anti-Methamphetamine Program.

“Indiana’s heroin crisis is one of the worst in the country, and combatting the epidemic should be a bipartisan priority. But while Congressman Todd Young said he recognized the scale of the epidemic, he chose to turn a blind eye toward funding anti-heroin efforts for our emergency workers,” said John Zody, Chairman. “Indiana deserves a Senator who is dedicated to doing whatever it takes to help our first responders and health care workers fight this crisis that has led to far too many tragedies across our state. Congressman Todd Young needs to tell Hoosiers why he was opposed to helping our state fight this ongoing epidemic.”

The Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed Congressman Todd Young’s opponent Evan Bayh because he has consistently stood by their efforts to combat crime and drug abuse.

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