Carolyn Dobson, Republican candidate for Alabama's 2nd Congressional District, is calling attention to the comments of her opponent, former state senator Dick Brewbaker, in the April 16 runoff election.

Her campaign said Brewbaker has tended to “downplay” Alabama's opioid crisis. A series of comments Currently in office.

“After 20 years in Congress, Dick Brewbaker, like many career politicians, committed a triple threat of poor judgment, misplaced priorities and complete lack of understanding when he blithely suggested the comfort of incarcerated felons was more important than protecting families and communities from the threat of fentanyl and the opioid crisis,” spokesman Drew Dixon said.

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“Parents, family members and friends who have lost loved ones to opioid addiction would not agree that providing cable television to prisoners is more important than keeping dangerous drugs off our cities, towns and streets.”

Dobson said a 2017 news article suggested Brewbaker wanted to prioritize improving living conditions for felons over fighting the opioid crisis.

“Senator Dick Brewbaker said the opioid crisis is a distraction from other issues in Alabama,” the article began, going on to say that Senator Brewbaker called opioids “a safe crisis that no one should have to risk.”

In the same news article, he said, “The prison and education systems are both more pressing crises than opioids.”

According to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2017, health care providers in Alabama wrote 107.2 opioid prescriptions per 100 people, the highest rate in the U.S. and double the national average. Additionally, the opioid overdose death rate in Alabama in 2017 increased 11.1 percent from 2016 to 18.0 deaths per 100,000 residents.

Austin Shipley is a staff writer for Yellow Hammer News.