Rep. Steven Haugaard, the Sioux Falls Republican who is chairing the committee, said the community needs to get on board to solve the state’s drug crisis because the issue is largely “people who have not been properly parented over the years” and parents who “haven’t raised children who are able to resist or choosing to resist the temptation to use the lesser drugs and then eventually move onto the worse drugs” [Lisa Kaczke, “Should Ingestion Be a Felony? Legislative Committee Split,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2019.10.22].
Now Judge Tim Bjorkman said something a couple years ago about the role a bad home life plays in causing toxic stress that puts kids at a huge disadvantage in succeeding in school and avoiding addiction and other bad choices. But Judge Bjorkman didn’t say that just to wag his finger at bad parents and excuse himself and the rest of us from action. He advocated lots of action: for offenders, more funding for mental health care, more training programs, more court and probation officials trained to help offenders with addiction and other obstacles to staying clean, alternatives to jail, restrictions on bail; and for families and children, expansion of Medicaid, support for family planning, parental coaching, and funding for preschool!
But Speaker Haugaard would rather say Angela Kennecke is a bad parent. He’d rather say any one of you who has had a child fall into addiction is a bad parent. He’d rather point his moral finger than solve problems.
And as any of you working with a team know, the person who spends all day laying blame instead of looking for solutions is usually the least productive person in the office.
“Should ingestion be a felony?” SF Newspaper –
Only South Dakota has an ingestion law where testing positive for marijuana can be a felony.
WHY? Simple – Because the leader of the SDGOP operates bail bond companies in college towns.
“Three Balls” Lederman and “Phat Pat” Powers owe their big houses and toys to the money they make off pee tests on kids caught with a small amount of cannabis. You know these two weasels will lie, cheat, and lie again to keep the legislature from softening this SD only law.
*note: Three Balls is the traditional symbol of Jewish Pawn shops since the Renaissance.
Debbo
2019-10-23 20:58
So those states that hauled the S family (can’t recall their name) and their drug dealing pharmacy into court are all wrong? And it’s okay for their dealers/salesmen to tell doctors to keep writing scrips; they’ll keep dealing pills; patients are popping them like candy?
All that’s fine? It’s the parents’ fault? What a sleaze. How much $$$$ does Hogguard get from Big Pharma? Indirectly, of course.
Debbo
2019-10-23 21:33
Two drug bills are making progress in Congress, but for addictions.
“Pelosi’s plan would save Medicare $345 billion over the decade, with the largest savings coming from the provision that would permit the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower prices on the costliest drugs each year.
“In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking Democrat Ron Wyden, of Oregon, have introduced their own bipartisan drug price bill that would make changes to Medicare by adding an out-of-pocket maximum for beneficiaries and capping drug price increases at the rate of inflation, among other measures.
“That plan, which would not allow Medicare to negotiate prices, was backed by President Donald Trump and has been described by lawmakers as a ‘middle ground’ approach to handling drug prices.”
CNBC is.gd/SsvbRq
Jenny
2019-10-23 21:40
What Debbo said. Hoagie had to have been the creepy guy in school that made girls uncomfortable.
Porter Lansing
2019-10-23 21:48
WOW! Jenny. Good one.
Jenny
2019-10-23 22:22
I know that’s mean Porter, but the guy is as far right as you can get -very very traditionalist. ‘The woman’s place is In the kitchen with a house dress’ misogynist. I get very uneasy vibes from him and I know I’m not the only woman that does.
Porter Lansing
2019-10-23 23:05
@Jenny – He told women how to dress in the legislature because cleavage made him uncomfortable. Didn’t go over well. 😂
Debbo
2019-10-23 23:57
Jenny, you’re right about Hogguard’s creepy icky factor.
Porter, he has a problem seeing women’s bodies so he expects them to make it all better for him? Typical creepiness. Bet he loves Prissy Pussy Pency. Eeuuwwww. There’s another one scoring very high on the Ick Factor.
Debbo
2019-10-24 00:42
I’m just going to put this in a few places so it is seen.
We have discussions about the pathetic excuses for Christianity that the GOP espouses, how antithetical it is to real Christianity. Someone will complain that the real Christians need to speak up, if they even exist. I say, “Look to the Mainline Christians, the Lutherans, United Church of Christ, Episcopalians, etc. So take a look at this link.
This is the kind of thing the Mainlines do every damn day. They’re not giving guns to their parishioners, not preaching hatred of LBTG or immigrants. They don’t glorify greed. The pastors participate in marches, get arrested and pay their own fines, as do the members.
Exactly, Debbo: in Speaker Haugaard’s world, all those people who got hooked on the opioids that the Sacklers pushed are the victims of bad parents. We shouldn’t act as a community to hold those drug pushers accountable; we should just scold the addicts and their parents as weak, unworthy people who should solve their own problems and not bother us.
Hmm… cap drug prices, and the Sacklers and the rest of Big Pharma wouldn’t have as much motivation to push people into addiction, would they?
But there we go again, wanting to act as a community through government to protect the general welfare instead of letting Haugaard’s God (a.k.a., the Invisible Hand, the “Free” Market) decide all matters in favor of those who share Saint Steven’s piety.
Donald Pay
2019-10-24 13:08
Rural areas, small towns and smaller cities tend to be more conservative and have more “Christian” family values, yet these are the areas that have the highest meth and opioid addict problems on a per capita basis. While they are patting themselves on the back, their kids seem to dipping into the community drug stash. Christian folks are no better or worse as parents as we secular humanists. However, they have been more permissive of allowing Big Pharma to escape regulation. They need to rethink their approach to government regulation before their kids die as a result of misplaced ideology.
“Should ingestion be a felony?” SF Newspaper –
Only South Dakota has an ingestion law where testing positive for marijuana can be a felony.
WHY? Simple – Because the leader of the SDGOP operates bail bond companies in college towns.
“Three Balls” Lederman and “Phat Pat” Powers owe their big houses and toys to the money they make off pee tests on kids caught with a small amount of cannabis. You know these two weasels will lie, cheat, and lie again to keep the legislature from softening this SD only law.
*note: Three Balls is the traditional symbol of Jewish Pawn shops since the Renaissance.
So those states that hauled the S family (can’t recall their name) and their drug dealing pharmacy into court are all wrong? And it’s okay for their dealers/salesmen to tell doctors to keep writing scrips; they’ll keep dealing pills; patients are popping them like candy?
All that’s fine? It’s the parents’ fault? What a sleaze. How much $$$$ does Hogguard get from Big Pharma? Indirectly, of course.
Two drug bills are making progress in Congress, but for addictions.
“Pelosi’s plan would save Medicare $345 billion over the decade, with the largest savings coming from the provision that would permit the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower prices on the costliest drugs each year.
“In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking Democrat Ron Wyden, of Oregon, have introduced their own bipartisan drug price bill that would make changes to Medicare by adding an out-of-pocket maximum for beneficiaries and capping drug price increases at the rate of inflation, among other measures.
“That plan, which would not allow Medicare to negotiate prices, was backed by President Donald Trump and has been described by lawmakers as a ‘middle ground’ approach to handling drug prices.”
CNBC is.gd/SsvbRq
What Debbo said. Hoagie had to have been the creepy guy in school that made girls uncomfortable.
WOW! Jenny. Good one.
I know that’s mean Porter, but the guy is as far right as you can get -very very traditionalist. ‘The woman’s place is In the kitchen with a house dress’ misogynist. I get very uneasy vibes from him and I know I’m not the only woman that does.
@Jenny – He told women how to dress in the legislature because cleavage made him uncomfortable. Didn’t go over well. 😂
Jenny, you’re right about Hogguard’s creepy icky factor.
Porter, he has a problem seeing women’s bodies so he expects them to make it all better for him? Typical creepiness. Bet he loves Prissy Pussy Pency. Eeuuwwww. There’s another one scoring very high on the Ick Factor.
I’m just going to put this in a few places so it is seen.
We have discussions about the pathetic excuses for Christianity that the GOP espouses, how antithetical it is to real Christianity. Someone will complain that the real Christians need to speak up, if they even exist. I say, “Look to the Mainline Christians, the Lutherans, United Church of Christ, Episcopalians, etc. So take a look at this link.
This is the kind of thing the Mainlines do every damn day. They’re not giving guns to their parishioners, not preaching hatred of LBTG or immigrants. They don’t glorify greed. The pastors participate in marches, get arrested and pay their own fines, as do the members.
These people are the real deal: is.gd/qG3jAW
Exactly, Debbo: in Speaker Haugaard’s world, all those people who got hooked on the opioids that the Sacklers pushed are the victims of bad parents. We shouldn’t act as a community to hold those drug pushers accountable; we should just scold the addicts and their parents as weak, unworthy people who should solve their own problems and not bother us.
Hmm… cap drug prices, and the Sacklers and the rest of Big Pharma wouldn’t have as much motivation to push people into addiction, would they?
But there we go again, wanting to act as a community through government to protect the general welfare instead of letting Haugaard’s God (a.k.a., the Invisible Hand, the “Free” Market) decide all matters in favor of those who share Saint Steven’s piety.
Rural areas, small towns and smaller cities tend to be more conservative and have more “Christian” family values, yet these are the areas that have the highest meth and opioid addict problems on a per capita basis. While they are patting themselves on the back, their kids seem to dipping into the community drug stash. Christian folks are no better or worse as parents as we secular humanists. However, they have been more permissive of allowing Big Pharma to escape regulation. They need to rethink their approach to government regulation before their kids die as a result of misplaced ideology.