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Tilton seeks Senate seat

By Roger Tilton - Milford | Sep 9, 2018

When Democrats and undeclareds go to the polls on Tuesday for our primary election, I suggest they vote for me, Roger Tilton for state Senate.

I am the only true liberal in the race. I’m the only local candidate anywhere around here who actually put the word DEMOCRAT on a yard sign! I believe in democracy, Democrats and liberal values, values like enhanced public education, public transportation and Medicaid, just to name three. And for good reason: If you’re a high school graduate who wants to go to community college or get a job outside your hometown, and you don’t have a car, you’re out-of-luck. Growing up in a ghetto in San Jose, California, in the 1960s, my single mother took a public-transit bus to West Valley College (which was free), and then she went on to get her degree from San Jose State. She has been employed as a stockbroker ever since – nearly 50 years. Without those liberal policies, she would have just been another single mother on welfare. Liberal policies work: Just look at Social Security and Medicare. Democrats should take pride that our policies are supported by majorities on nearly all issues – the environment, healthcare, women’s reproductive choices, a living minimum wage, equal pay for equal work, family leave and legalizing, regulating and taxing cannabis.

And on opioids: My 64-year-old sister-in-law died two weeks ago after a several-year downward spiral that began with an opioid prescription after back-pain issues. The doctors kept upping her dosage. She dropped from about 150 pounds down to 85 when she died. Who supervises these doctors who overprescribe? No one. We need oversight. Of all the 50 states, New Hampshire has the second-highest number of opioid deaths per capita.

When I first proposed legalizing cannabis in 2014, only two states had legal adult-use cannabis. Now, nine states do. We should be No. 10. Cannabis-legal states have seen fewer opioid overdoses and deaths, fewer drunk or impaired driving arrests, fewer DWI/DUI fatalities and lower teen-cannabis use. In the laboratory of the states, cannabis is a winner.

Legalizing cannabis in New Hampshire will help alleviate some of our opioid problems, and the tax revenue could be used to LOWER property taxes, and to help fund treatment centers for the opioid-addicted. New Hampshire ranks 49th or 50th in the state rankings for available treatment-center beds. That is a lack of leadership.

We need a leader in the state senate who has the foresight and passion to bring New Hampshire into this new reality. A vote for me is a vote for you, and a vote for New Hampshire.

Please consider a vote for me on the Sept. 11 primary day, a day of service. And vote like your life depends on it, because it might: You never know who the next opioid victim might be. Just ask my brother.

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