Pressed on addiction, Trump and Biden talk border security but don’t mention treatment

President Biden and former President Trump were each given the chance on Thursday to speak to a kitchen-table issue plaguing the nation: the addiction and drug overdose epidemic claiming over 110,000 American lives each year.

One word was conspicuously absent from both of their answers: “treatment.” 

Instead, during the first debate of the 2024 presidential campaign, the current and former president each offered circuitous answers that, at least vaguely, spoke to border security. Trump at one point cited his administration’s purchase of drug sniffing dogs. Biden, meanwhile, noted that Trump is currently blocking an immigration bill that would provide funds for the purchase of fentanyl-detection machines. 

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