we have driven to suboxone clinics, which are 50 miles these last -- it's impossible. someone who u have works, they cannot get treatment a, drug back home, and to go to work. the one thing that did seem to is a drug called vivitrol. it's a shot. it lasts 30 days. owever, it sometimes wears off early. but we understand that ohio is program where they se the vivitrol shot in conjunction with vivitrol pills so that when the shot wears off early, the person can then take

these pills. and this has to be available in community.e you can't expect people to drive 40, 50 miles to get this treatment. and then get back home and go to work. because you have to realize that lot of addicts have families and jobs. to providew, we need something so that they can function and hopefully conquer their addiction. has heroin addiction cost you money personally? does your insurance cover any of this, and what would you suggest federal policy? the vivitrol shot itself i believe was something

for the shot. i think that the involved vernment got in this, they could bring the cost of that shot down, you providing that it actually does work. we need to do some more research on all of these things. host: all right. we're going to leave it there. carl, thanks so much. meghan mccarthy. guest: carl, you bring up a lot f points that are being highly debated right now. the cost of drugs is something that has really become a huge topic on capitol hill and for the federal government. the issue that you're talking you also, specifically, know, is that the different what kind lines for of medication assistance and treatment people can receive so it is kind of a patchwork where you'll have a different treatment in one state versus another state so that's something that the committees on

capitol hill are looking at as well. host: in the past, congress has funded what they call demonstration projects, which done in of experiments different areas of the country. are they doing any so-called demonstration project funding for treatment in the united states? host: if so, you know, the agencies do have authority to try to fund things out. medicare and medicaid services was trying to ook at medicaid and limiting beneficiaries who they thought were the high risk of being prescription painkiller abusers, limiting them to one prescriber and one pharmacy they could actually go fill those prescriptions at, and that's something that, you know, the senate finance committee has medicare,expanding to so there's activity on that front. gaithersburg, in maryland. go ahead, jeff. caller: good morning. i want to ask if anybody is

make sure we to don't throw out the baby with the bath water. there are people in chronic pain these drugs, and you know, this whole situation is lumping them in with drug abusers. i think it's unfair. t creates a stigma that's unfair. people in pain didn't do way.hing to get that people that are hooked on heroin opiates, obviously went outside the prescribing hooked.tions to get it's an action they took on their own. one to really have no blame but themselves, but it's hurting people in pain. and i wonder if you have any comment on that. jeff. hanks, guest: yes, that's a point that the pharmaceutical industry definitely makes, that there are people out there that these drugs are a life-changer, and eradicate help and pain that otherwise might not be addressed. you know, i think a lot of the

educate doctors or to have the prescriptions be, you know, 30 days, to maybe limiting it to seven days. that's what massachusetts just did and other states are looking at efforts like that as well. tweets in, it seems heroin addicts are becoming hite kids in the suburbs, but not inner city kids. it's a big problem to be solved. you know, i think the statistics you have already showson the program today g: so you know, i think the is statistics you have already cited on the program today shows us how widespread this issue u: statistics you have already cited on the program today shows es: so you know, i think the statistics you have already cited on the program today shows us how widespread this issue is statistics you have already cited on the program today shows us how widespread this issue is and it is certainly hitting senators and members of the house on the campaign trails and they're hearing about it from their constituents. host: thomas in fairlong, new jersey. go ahead, thomas. you? : hi, how are thank you for taking my call. well, let's see. ost of this problem actually starts when the little children and even babies, unfortunately,

we have doctors prescribing rit adderall, which leads to meth later on, but these drugs,n are taking these especially babies, inhibitors, they don't do the drugs anymore. meth re they looking for amphetamine, heroin. as a parafactor, i treated people in pain for over 30 years without drugs, without surgery. hy isn't the government, the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance companies telling people go see a chiropractor when you're in pain. it's safe. there's no drugs. we actually help these people, even chronic pain people. we do get results, and i don't hear anybody talking about this. throwing more money at the problem, not going to make any difference. we've already spent $300 billion now we've drugs and got more people taking prescription drugs. host: meghan mccarthy. guest: so, you know, your the nt makes me think of c.d.c., which just came out with guidelines last week or two

ago that basically suggest that doctors, you know, should they ything else before prescribe these intense lookillers to patients, so for other forms of treatment, forms ofs or other treatment that aren't addictive. host: a story in the recent national review about dope sick through heroin usa. .ooking at walgreens how monitored, has there been an monitoring of drug sales, etc.? are they monitored pretty closely? guest: that's one piece of the bill that the senate passed recently is really trying to address, and a lot of these issues, again, is a state patchwork, so different states to monitor which doctors might be prescribing a lot more of these prescriptions,

and others, so the databases state-by-state a lev level. host: randal, stephenville, texas, go ahead. caller: yes, ma'am. i'm a veteran. harm reduction was introduced into our classes two years ago, a lot s really relieved of us that were total absentence and don't have the discipline to walk the line and stay clean and sober. the question i want to ask is comments ion to your on legislation. we're going to speak to our county attorney and we have a state representative here, returning dignity to the addict. addict addiction is terrorism. terrorism.nduced i know. but my view is, couldn't we 2? t a national guard not just a national guard, but a national guard 2 that was a

community service. in my home town, we had about 2,000 yards from tornado lift the roof off of a college apartment laundry and some other damage in town. is there any way a panel could study a national guard 2, return these guys to the community out. e when they come host: out of stephenville, texas. guest: this is how to address people that are already addicted nd how to get people into treatment, something that obviously getting on the discussion right now. democrats on the presidential campaign trail, hillary clinton, are calling for maybe not a national guard, but would volunteer, participate in, but allowing the number of doctors that can participate in assistance and treatment to be vastly expanded from what it is now. here are caps placed on the number of doctors that can use this kind of therapy and that is

definitely one of the ways people are talking about addressing this epidemic. host: sea of tranquility tweets in, is there enough funding for medical detox? guest: i think the answer to that question would depend a lot on which side of the aisle you fall on. so democrats wanted to spend million to, you know, buffer the bill that the senate passed. he president has called for $1.1 billion in his fiscal 2017 budget to address the opioid epidemic. already ns say there's money line items in this for a udget, and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell specifically pointed to $400 illion in the omnibus package that passed last year that could actually be for this. host: next call for meghan consult" f "morning comes from virginia in langhorn, pennsylvania. hi, virginia. hello. think we are avoiding the

whole issue. we have to seal our border. drugs. to declare war on we have to limit what our president can spend. ur president has spent trillions and trillions of dollars that could have been these drugs. limited.ng has to be it's out of control. host: thank you, virginia. the war on drugs. any talk of -- in congress about what to do with that? whether to maintain or. ost: so this is something that's coming up specifically in the house judiciary committee, as you know, the focus could be on stopping the flow of illegal drugs. it's something that's come up on he presidential campaign trail as well as how donald trump and ted cruz have kind of addressed this issue, talking about stopping drugs from coming in illegally from mexico. host: but that doesn't do demand. to the it's definitely a

point that they like to hit on that i think speaks to some of the supporters but yes, certainly democrats make the point that is not actually of ping the flow prescription drugs that are, perhaps, getting people hooked the line. own host: is there any talk at this point, about the legalization of all drugs? guest: there's been a huge ation of the legaliz marijuana. a know, the issue here is little bit different and unique because prescription painkillers the big are viewed as gateway into heroin and how the epidemic has grown so significantly and quickly over the past few years. separate nd of a track. host: patrick in vincenttown, new jersey. patrick. caller: yes, i definitely wanted a state first off that i was

therapeutic addict. i had back pain and ended up being on up to 600 milligrams of morphine a day, but you just to come ave the will off of it. i came off of it within two and-a-half months. my point is within the medical professional, i think there's a when vice to the patients you have pain management physicians that are putting contracts narcotic or agreements where if they, you know, go over, you know, do one a violation, you now, that they are completely dropped from being taken care of by the physician. i think that's a medical injustice. you don't see that in heart heart patients which disease and heart failure is a huge killer within the united states. you don't see patients coming in that have eaten chinese food and

failure into heart because they didn't follow the eatment or you don't see diabetics that are kicked out of treatment because their blood ugars went out of whack for a month or so. o i think that the focus and stigmatization has forced medical professionals to push offices due toir minor violations as opposed to patients, and s like the caller said before, the stigmatization of this, within the medical profession, is a big factor. they have -- physicians have to creating at they are it throughout this thing, and hey have to follow through and not abandon the patient, putting them out into the streets, going into it to get heroin access and think that one part of it, if we can -- when we're talking about the opioid factor, and the

rescription of it by the medical professionals, is they . ve to change their mind-set host: all right, i think we got the idea. meghan mccarthy. guest: yes, so you know, the issue that i think is two-fold, first, is that there are so many that can rs out there prescribe opioids than are actually trained to treat addiction. as we've been talking about, the different caps on medicated assisted therapy. it varies by state. and then, you know, the point you may ha is something that people have pushed back on in assachusetts, where you know, it's limited to a seven-day prescription and the hardship certain t place on patients after a major surgery, if they're dealing with a illness. and so policymakers are trying to figure out a way to write these laws that will help address this epidemic that hey're still figuring out as it's going on. host: 900,000 doctors in the

most all can prescribe opioids. 32,000 can ut prescribe the treatment for heroin addiction. and you have to take an ight-hour course, et cetera, for that. nathan is in dayton, ohio. nathan. caller: good morning. i am currently and will always be on opioids. i have a disability i was born with. it's a peripheral neuropathy with age.worse allowed me to function every day. i don't take it to party. i don't take it to feel good or forget things. i take it to function and i've got to say in the state of ohio, disappointing that they have set up a random drug g for g and pill countin pain patients. i'm waiting for the next step for them to start tracking my movements. i mean, this puts me in a a uation where i feel like

criminal and i have done nothing wrong. i have done everything by the book, and they don't need to treat me like this, because my 're already tracking medicatio pharmacy.s through my i've been questioned by my pharmacy before about why i need particular prescription or do i need the amount of the prescription, but i was forced into a situation where i signed would allow my doctor to share my results with the government. so now you've got the government who has access to my medical entire as well as her staff doing drug testing in the and you alsolways, have the fact that i'm disabled, i'm going to be dealing with my life.the rest of injustice inso much that. and i don't understand how this doesn't violent civil rights. i don't understand how this doesn't violent and become discrimination against the disabled, and i really don't

this isn't a direct violation of hipaa. y government leaders i called in the state of ohio, most of them aren't even aware that this is happening. two to call for about months before i talked to the pharmaceutical board, because medical board understood what this was. host: all right, thank you. let's hear from meghan mccarthy. i think what know, you're bringing up, why this is so hard to address this policy, you know, healthcare is so personal, and it really, you places theyeople in don't want other people knowing about, and particularly, the government. highlights how this is strange bedfellows in some ways for democrats and republicans, because this is -- it's often stepping up and, you involvement know, the monitoring of people's healthcare, and that's not omething that philosophically republicans are typically behind, but the issue is so that youcertain states

see that effort and republicans saying that there is a role for the government in this. host: and john kasich, the governor for ohio, has talked bit on the uite a presidential campaign trail, hasn't he? guest: he has, yes, and it's a lot of the that candidates, some of whom have dropped out now, have talked personal level and, you know, it's a way for republicans, i think, too, to talk about healthcare where they don't have to get into bamacare, necessarily, and repealing health insurance for millions of americans and what they're going to replace with that. this is a place where they can be seen as actually helping and issue that is allowed to... host: about $34 billion a year economic, andheft, healthcare costs is the estimated cost of the heroin in the united states. salem, in ben

pennsylvania. go ahead, mark. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i don't think we have to reinvent the wheel and the statistics you said about the costs of this is staggering. es is beingce compani overwhelmed with how many kids go back and forth to rehab. great tool but also hardly unsuccessful in treating this because heroin, we have two heroin addicts in my family, and they've been in and out of treatment facilities and halfway houses, recovery homes 16 times in the last year. i mean, it just doesn't work real well if the addict is not it.dy for but what we have found is that consequences ave and treatment for the parents and helping them understand, it doesn't work to be just a good to.nt like you used this disease takes on a whole different parenting skill set parpents on't have as and get them educated so they know how to handle addicts. the consequences is what leads to cures, and that's free pretty much to get them into treatment. they have to be broken and not want to use drugs anymore before

treatment n accept and there's nothing out there like a transitional period from when they go into rehab, they can walk out whenever they want. the legal system doesn't provide any type of forced situation where they have to stay in for a period of time. and i think we can do something on that that would be really to effective and also talk the insurance companies about letting kids stay longer, the ones that are getting the instead of m them, letting them walk out the door days, which or 28 seems to be the protocol right now. there's a lot they can do. host: mark, has your insurance covered a lot of the rehab costs family members? caller: yes, it's been really good but when you're in state sometimes, it covers a portion out of nd if you go state, it's better for some reason. guess it's the out-of-state benefit but i've seen a lot of families that have been cut out after the first five days of retox and they're always saying oh, you've been denied, like the weekend, two weeks in. it here's no set protocol seems like for the treatment. he max you can usually stay is

28 days and that's nowhere near long enough for an addict in recovery. host: what's been the impact on your family? caller: it's horrifying. more families than you can even imagine. i've seen thousands of families coming in broken, not knowing hat to do, completely and emotionally destroyed. you don't understand the impact it has on the families. it addicts, you can see visually but what's behind the oors is even much more damaging. host: if you could come up here and testify, mark, what would you suggest for the 535 men and do? n to caller: well, i would suggest that there is some sort of thing here the addicts can't leave the treatment on their own. cruel, but t sounds they need to be broken and have to reach their bottom. i would suggest when they get drug related, ui incarcerate them for a period of time but not ruin their whole

life. give them a chance to get it ruining their whole life. a lot of family members enable t, and it's hard for a parent to throw the child out on the street and say you can't live here anymore or i'm not paying anything anymore. it's very difficult. it's a combination of the education for the family members who are suffering from this on ase, maybe even shows television have to do it because they just glorify the drug use and everything else these documentaries i've seen. they don't really talk about and i've seen ks first hand what works. they have to want to do it and the only way they want to do it is the consequences get so great in their lives that they can't stand it anymore and they want to change but that's sometimes a really dark place. host: that's mark in ben salem, you heard what he had to say. go ahead, meghan mccarthy. guest: mark, what you're talking about reminds me of another big capitol hill which is mental health legislation and some of that is coming from republicans and from democrats.

area where there's bipartisan coordination. they're all looking at going as far as suggesting, you know, and requiring people to be committed for a certain amount of time, but making it easier to get rehab, and to have sustained treatment instead of and out every couple of days. so it's not moving as quickly as the opioid legislation did, but it is something that they are talking about, and it is something unique that's happening. calling in from mapleton, illinois. hi. caller: good morning. this might sound callous and i don't mean it to be. i'm retired law enforcement from alifornia, and i told your screener that i'm not expecting nyone to inject the racial component in this but there were a lot of sick people we were '80s ng in prison in the and '90s and early 2000s when i was working and now all of a

udden, this is a sickness, a disease, it's an epidemic, and the reasons is because it's of society it nt never was intended. if this had been confined to the lower classes and the minorities, we'd only be talking prison. and i do believe that, yes, we there is aatment but crime in california called 11550. influence,d under the health and safety code, and possession of is a crime. o unless we go and do this across the board, i am not in favor of any kind of treatment until they start treating everybody. but if we go according to what we always do, we'll put the prison, and s in we'll put johnny suburb in rehab. so i'm sorry to put it that way, but that's just the way things are. so if you can address this for everyone, i'm right with you. otherwise -- host: valdez, when you talked previously, were you referring to the crack cocaine epidemic of the '80s and '90s. caller: a number of things.

junkies, users. i was assigned to the jail bus at one point, every thursday transported them down to california rehab, and they were just in and out. but, i mean, there was never any indication that they were going to get any kind of treatment. it was strictly incarceration. heavy mexican population, so a lot of them were mexican people. issue ofdn't have this suburban people being under the as you're s much hearing now. sir. thank you, so inner city poor people versus johnny suburb. guest: i think there is an argument to be made that the reason this is getting attention is because it is hitting people making their -- or their families are making their hill in ad on capitol way that perhaps, you know, poor er populations struggle to do, you're know, what talking about also makes me think of criminal justice reform

is slation which, you know, similar to the mental health bills that i was discussing a earlier.it there is actual discussion about and there are democrats and on blicans working together that, but it is not happening quickly as the opioid population. joe this is from davidson's federal insider the "washington post" this morning about the hearing earlier this week in congress. addiction, war then, the treatment now. representative elijah cummings, of maryland, has seen the effects of drug abuse in his neighborhood in west baltimore pointed to the difference in the way heroin addiction is dealt with now compared to years ago. he difference between the war on drugs and drug treatment is like the difference between black and white. baltimore, where many of the victims were poor and black, our nation treated this

a ue like a war rather than ublic health emergency, said cummings, a democrat on the panel. generation ted a rather than giving them treatment they needed. now things are changing, he noted, between 2006 and 2013, the number of first-time heroin users nearly doubled and about first-time users were white. elle marie in birmington, vermont. ellemarie. caller: hello. host: your governor in vermont has spoken out about this issue quite forcefully, hasn't he? has. : yes, he host: go ahead. caller: my story is rather simple. i was working as a med tech, had the medical professional for a few years, decided to get license. went back to school, 2008, i was ssaulted, did damage to my spine, and i am now on

disability. refused to take anything stronger than codeine, although amazed that it was still being offered. patients coming in and drooling to get their me.scriptions, it horrified then on february 19th of this codeine ent to fill my prescription, and my pharmacist by me it has been rejected my insurance company, and they wanted me to take either hydromorphone or morphine sulfate. managing since 2008 on codeine. has increased.ce i wake up, it's an average of a 3. if i work around the house and do other things, it can go up to that's when i nd start, you know, hitting the codeine. maintained since 2008 pillsy the same amount of

that i have started with, because i -- host: so why do you think your ce company insuran flagged your account? caller: i have no idea. becausefight with them, i was in a lot of pain, to give me seven days of codeine, and then i had to go back to my doctor the following monday, and have her fill d out these ridiculous forms i couldn't take morphine one or take sulfate because i had a deathly fear of it. become one of o those people who sits at their doctor's office drooling because they need to take something that wasn't necessary. host: is it kind of like our caller from ohio, a little bit. guest: right, so i think this -- one of the things about

this, health insurance and prescription drug coverage is complicated already. so it's already difficult for or figure nderstand out, navigate what tier a versus what'ss in not and whether you're going to pay a generic copay, you're oing to get a brand name prescription that's going to cost you a lot more. so that might be what's happening there, in your case, but you know, that's already what people are doing just to et any kind of prescription drug. so when we add another layer of, government regulations, tracking, it just gets all the more complicated. host: you've mentioned this a couple of times but as far as egislative efforts actually becoming law, it's an election year. chances? the host: so one thing the senate the house can move things faster than the senate often. it does seem like the bill could actually make it to the

resident's desk and be signed in law, which is pretty remarkable. it's an election year and with the fight going over the supreme right now.ee so it's actually one of the few things that might make it to the white house. host: and with funding? guest: there will be no money attached to it additionally. it's an authorization of directing o it's not funds to it yet. host: so would there be any immediate impact? guest: you know, i think that we have to ask the attorney general, because he's the one that will get the additional bill. through this i don't think democrats would have acted on this if they withoutit was pointless funding, so it's a step. i would think they would make judgments that it's a step in the right direction. and there is federal funding that exists for these programs agencies u might see get creative with how they andet to treat this endemic you might see the appropriations committee kind of moving money

round from different pots to address it. host: thomas tweets in talking about valdez, our caller from illinois. caller was right. johnny suburb goes to rehab johnny city goes to jail. drug war is a political war. richard is in west bloomfield, michigan. go ahead, richard. caller: hi. work with a company that makes from colorado-grown industrial hemp, and we've been eeing a lot of promising results for a lot of different nerve and muscle pain. antiinflammatory with no cbd, effects, and that there's a lot of scientific data and lab result tests for the products that we have. so for people that don't want to have -- take the road to get to heroin that are in pain, i think , so i a nice alternative

just wondered what your thoughts were. host: richard in west bloomfield, michigan. we won't make you comment on that commercial product. meghan mccarthy, in all these discussions, is there talk about the colorado experiment on legalization? guest: you know, pain management is what these drugs are prescribed for, and that's a big who supportt people the legalization of marijuana make, that this is something that could help people and not be, you know, as addictive or a pathway as the caller said, to heroin. there are other people that would say it's just another drug, and it can be addictive as well. host: has there been a discussion of, we've been through this before. we went through this with the crack epidemic of the '80s and '90s. e went through this with alcohol throughout our history. we had cocaine back in the 1920s.

mean, is this -- has there in the discussion historical, putting this in the historical perspective? ost: i think you're absolutely drug that it's a indicator, and perhaps this is the one of this time but i think hat's unique about this is the element of the medical community being involved in it, and that getting hooked on some of these drugs or heroin ecause they got prescribed something by a doctor. in so it's just a -- it adds a different element, and it's honestly, i think, why the federal government can get more involved or that you see more legislation than you might have cocaine, which was obviously focused on the judicial system. cdc coming ve the out with guidelines, you have the fda just coming out and there are going to be new blackbox warnings on these prescription drugs.

know, you have medicare and medicaid looking at different prescribing.ol the host: then we're hearing from the viewers who say look, i need my drugs, my pain pills. tim, flatrock, michigan. lease go ahead with your question or comment about the heroin epidemic in the united states. caller: thank you, c-span. i just wanted to put my few cents in on this heroin epidemic. t's really hit hard in our family, mainly because my father was a heroin addict. he still is. he worked a great job, made buyout, year, took a year.out $100,000 a and he spent it basically all on heroin in one year. and that's when my parents got divorced, we tried the treatment, inpatient, and was ful with the results, and he would come out within an detroit,wo, be back in

rying to find more heroin, and it just completely devastated our family. he's homeless because of this. like i said, he had a great job, and this drug is just killing everybody. he's been hospitalized, i would times obably five or six for heroin-complicated infections, you know, from using dirty needles. have a granddaughter who's -- i have a daughter who's eight years old. he's never even met his granddaughter. host: so do you have any contact with your father anymore? guest: no, i do not. he is homeless, living on the streets, you know, he had a job.t $80,000 a year host: has he stolen from you? caller: he's stolen not from me but from my brother. e took all the savings bonds, and right before my parents got divorced, you know, it just

ramped up and, you know, he would actually be offering me to take him to detroit to go get because he would get so sick. host: what would you like to see the federal government do, if anything? caller: it's a very complicated issue. , you know, to see in-treatment. he would get out within an hour. he'd be there 28 days. forced en you say treatment. if he's 28 days and within an hour he's already back out on street, where is the enforcement? caller: that's where we're kind of lost. host: right. thank you, c-span. host: what has this done to your family? brothers, yourur relationships? caller: oh, we don't even talk anymore. he's homeless in detroit.

occupy your emotional bond anymore? caller: what do you mean by emotional boppednd? host: well, the family. how has the family dynamic changed being so close to this vortex? caller: well, we went through counseling, you know, when it first started, and it's been a rough ride over about the last eight years, because it seemed to really ramp up from just using it every once in a while, and then at his peak was he spent ,000 a year on it. host: thank you, sir. i think that's a tough story and, you know, there are a lot of americans that are in the same boat as you. sponsored byolling cbs health that found that 41% of americans know someone that

with heroin or opioid addiction, so it's definitely a growing issue. it cuts across party id, it cuts , across the country. ost: maria tweets in: more people die from alcohol than all other drugs combined. pat, i think you're going to be hit for our guest, meghan huntington, west virginia, hi. caller: hello, good morning. you about my l family, sir, i'm from huntington, west virginia. this is the ground zero for drug use. just look at the map. it's covered, the state of west virginia, by red. user, had hep c, was one of the people that went through for seven months injecting myself in order to get stages ofin the early his ongoing epidemic from drug

use back in the '70s. had ughter and son-in-law $150,000 from my mom's death, years,w thank god for two they've been clean. heart by spaded her the use of cocaine back in the '80s. use had 18 friends die from f drugs, directly or from od, or from complications. moneyton.lled moneyton by call the cartels in detroit and columbus. almost got it set up like a business model. but the reason for this is the hypocrisy that comes from the top part of our government. you ask what our government can do. our government could have nixon on using blacks using

heroin and marijuana on the hippies, to make the news every night in place of the deaths and the drug use from the people in vietnam we were sending to die. and we had the reagan and the selling nistration drugs under the counter invading west during the conquer. and we have people walking borders with drugs we've blinked our eyes saying, oh, we're taking care of the drug problem. there inve people over afghanistan walking by fields of andies while the drug lords the tribal chiefs continue to grow their poppies and send them here to destroy our youth. and you say oh, our government wouldn't do that. urely they're not that hypocritical. but i say they let the drug companies sell all the drugs distribute them to make money out of greed, and you have -- host: all right, pat. got your point. meghan mccarthy, what were you

hearing? know, people you want action on this issue and mentioned, you know, we found that 52% of voters want presidential andidates to come out and actually have a plan for this and that includes 59% of independents, 59% of republicans. so it's something that the voters are definitely keenly interested in, and i think a lot concerns. share your host: meghan mccarthy, editor in chief of the newsletter "morning consult." thank you for your time this morning. guest: thank you so much for on. ng me host: we have about 40 minutes left in this morning's "washington journal." we're going to continue this conversation. here are the numbers that we've been using all day, if you've een impacted by heroin use, if you are a medical professional, and all others, and we'll continue hearing from you in just a minute. "book tv" and has programs

and authors every weekend. saturday noon eastern, virginia festival of the book in charlottesville. einstein who stopped -- the man who stalked einstein." then patricia scott on "the lady."nd and the first the book explores the relationship between civil andts activist paula murray eleanor roosevelt. scott speaks at roosevelt house in new york. george carlin's daughter talks

about her life growing up with her father. ter words."t, "af winning political leaders and the advances they are making in the political arena. she is interviewed by the cofounder of cornell law school's avon center. >> for a woman to be at the head of the most powerful country in the world when one iraqi allies does not allow -- when one of our key allies in the allow women to drive, i think this is message from a bully pulpit. >> "washington journal"

continues. continues. years, the last 15 there's been a 286% increase in deaths in the united states. estimated to cost -- the heroin epidemic is estimated to have an economic impact of about $34 billion a year in theft, economics, and in healthcare costs. hillary clinton has described it as a quiet epidemic. it was a major topic of the new hampshire primary. that's been our topic this morning, all morning, on the "washington journal," talking about heroin use, abuse, epidemic, whatever word you want to use. and how it's impacted you, how it's impacted communities, and how it's impacted or impacting public policy, and that's where as ant to hear from you well. we want to hear your story. we also want to hear what you

or should or should not be done to combat this. we're going to go back to your calls. this is sandra in seattle. ou've been very patient, sandra. go ahead and tell us your story. thanks. all right, well, heroin experience with in through my brother, and the late '90s and up to 2003, i idaho, and in boise, my brother at that time was a eroin addict, and i was incapacitated because i had been ristradol, so i'm sitting there in my home with my iother living with me and all hear is heroin addict friends going back and forth through my their o i'm observing behavior. ng. it's horrifyi they're not having any fun, first off. anyone who thinks heroin addicts

fun, they don't know. they're not having any fun. the entire life is about getting that next fix. work, so it's all about shop lifting, you know, and all the ways they can figure out to steal money to come up with the money for their fix. tragic.s just he would get -- first off, he would be in prison for a month and come out and go immediately right back to it. me.ust amazes and the thing is, you know, my in the early '60s, because he was born premature and was behind in chool, and a doctor prescribed him some medication, and they pills.it happy and that is what launched him into his --

dead? is your brother caller: what? host: is your brother dead? of er: yes, he finally died an overdose in 2009. but from -- host: we want to get some other calls in here so i'm going to ask you one more question. we appreciate your story, but is brother's le in your life and his issues that the federal government, in your addressed? have and i know that's a very awkward phrasing, but i think you know what i mean. yeah, well, see, a state thing of more even than federal because he and at that time, his friends actually tried to using -- i t by forget the name of the stuff, the substitute. it.ho didn't allow they had to drive all the way to that substitute

legal drug. relief now, that was right there. before you cut me off, let me actually get clean for six years, and the way it busted in a he got sting, so he was facing at least 10 years in prison. put him on ered to n, and he, probatio of course, took that, and so he random u.a.s, and that kept him on the straight and narrow. he was required to go to a.a., he got rid of all his druggy friends, made friends in a.a., he was truly a happy person for six years. and then his old friends came around and he fell off the and , and he overdosed died. host: sandra, thank you from

seattle. and if you look at the map that we showed earlier, the national map, this is from the new york times, and it shows where heroin have increased, and you can see up there in the eft-hand corner, the state of washington, she was calling from seattle in the state of washington. ton has state of washing a lot of red and orange counties up there. the whole west, essentially, been a big here's increase. over 8,000 heroin overdose deaths per year. it's being called an epidemic, a quiet epidemic. matthew is in georgia. matthew. caller: yes, good morning, peter. i am very, very upset. off.se don't cut me i've been trying to get on for quite a while and haven't gotten me a couple. idea, the ery racist whole thing.

there are so many black people who have gone to jail. some of them i think, three strikes, you're out. now, re in jail for life okay. they're in jail for life. i just watched something on can'te where black people get dispensaries in colorado felony you can't have a and own a dispensary. so now, they fill the jails up hispanics and the white boys from wall street can go in and make a lot of that are of drugs supposed to be illegal. understood it wasn't illegal now. we fought the war. remember iran contra? okay, supposedly, they were selling drugs for guns. where did they sell those drugs? big banks. i know, you can look it up. big banks, loaned billions of dollars. ve have gone executi to jail.

very racist thing going on with this heroin stuff on here. they filled up the jails. if obama can do anything, is to rite an executive order to empty out the jails for people who are in there for drugs. pounds of drugs. lots of black people have died. cops have shot people because them top them to search for a few ounces of drugs. racist.is is it is extremely racist. it. no other way to call host: that's matthew in georgia, and this is lisa in burlington, north carolina. go ahead, lisa. morning.good oh, my goodness, that man just shook me up. okay, perhaps we are a racist country, we're finally trying to get a handle on everybody's problem, and i hope that it

trying to a suburban treat white people and not help black people now. maybe they ought to look at everybody's record in prison, in jails, try to do this, but called.not the reason i i'm very shook up about i can see why everyone says we are a giant racist country. hosed: we are talking about the heroin epidemic on your community. live inan see where i north carolina. it is good friday. there is a reason people actually start to get on drugs.

they are not happy with their lives. the 70's and 80's. people were asking me to try this and try that. life, ii'm a high on don't want to alter my brain to be something other than i rem. host: lieutenant governor of the state of maryland, he is a task force chair for the governors association for the united states. what is the situation in maryland? guest: it is a challenge throughout the country. we have been grappling with it since it tookars

off a year ago. in 2014re campaign in throughout the state, -- campaigning in 2014 throughout the state, we were hearing from small communities, that the biggest issue at the local health and law enforcement and providers had was heroine? -- was heroine. once elected we would convene an emergency task force to come up with recommendations to try to address this particular challenge. host: what are some of the guest: we hads? 33 recommendations that ranged .rom prevention and education we included treatment options.

we talked about quality of care and had proposals and terms with quality of care, because it is often the discussion of treatment, which means inpatient treatment. not everybody needs inpatient treatment. so we have recommendations in that area. legislative/in our -- legislative session. we are it mandatory for prescription drug monitoring. the reason for this is the new date wage rubbed to heroine is prescription opiates. 70%, 75% of new heroine users

are coming off of prescription medications. that is the real distinction between a lot of the drug problems we have had in the past and what we are facing now with heroine. is there an estimate what the use causes the state of -- what they use costs the state of maryland? guest: when you look at emergency rooms, when you look , wehe response from emts deaths from heroin overdoses and anecdotally there is pretty much an assumption for everyone heroine death. there are eight or nine that survive in overdose. treated inill being emergency rooms and expenses

associated with that. and then of course the lack of ,roduction, the potential crime the petty crime that comes from it. host: was there anything that surprised you? what surprised us early on, and before we even convened a task force, was how pervasive the problem is. particularly in some of the , i'm not sure how many listeners are familiar with the geography of maryland, the eastern shores is a rural area. towns may have less than 1000 people in them.

they were maybe 1000 people, 2000 people in the town. host: have you shared or learned anything from other states? guest: we are constantly looking at other states and what they are doing. i was with the national governors association this week and talking with some of the other governors and what is going on in their states. vermont has been aggressive in that area. that is a good example of how it has extended to small states, a small new england state talking --the massachusetts new massachusetts governor. host: lieutenant governor of the state of maryland and also the heroine andhair on

opioid addiction. thank you for your time. fred is in toledo ohio. we are talking about the arrow -- talking about the heroin epidemic. caller: some of people were on heroin that became impossible to live in that area. one of their biggest clients were college professors. it has always been there. i moved down to toledo. good until we had the collapse. a lot of people lost their homes.

we had drug dealers moving to them. been working for the past five years. had so many deals and so many cars being broken into. it is like the walking dead. my 96-year-old father accidentally overdosed on oxycodone. host: is there something you would like to see done in washington or can be done in washington? caller: i have never done any of these drugs. i would never take oxycodone if it was prescribed to me. i accept -- i accidentally lived

it for so many years, the drug use is something else. their racism is involved in it, classes him. i know my neighborhood we are lower and middle class working folks. we had to make a big noise to get anything done in our neighborhood. why is it ok for prisons to be a for-profit? manrcerating a subcontracted out. , they arele are stuck satisfied, they can't get out. ohio near is in

cleveland, this is kathy. caller: i called because in the last three weeks i have been to two family friend funerals. one kid was 21, 1 kid was 23. we appear to be happy and healthy, we are not area i also work in a dental office where we prescribed opiate drugs to patients and received notifications when it appears there are problems at the pharmacy. i have thought about the situation in the last three weeks. be ank there has to philosophical discussion. there has to be a legislative process involved.

i feel weird talking about it, but i feel like they should legalize marijuana and it will make an impact on the heroin problem. host: where do you see the connection? caller: i think our society does -- generate an easier lifestyle. he will have to work their whole life to pay for car and food and children. part of the reason why a lot of people aren't happy. marijuana is different. i have tried it myself in the past. takeently beat cancer and cancer preventing drugs that i'm not doing well on. oil helps mecbd with my not sure and weight loss.

marijuana would be an enter to several of our philosophical problems of a modern society. i'm 45 and i'm scared of this heroin epidemic. anybody who is having trouble with it. i honestly feel like legalizing their lana would help. host: matthew from georgia. i'm disabled, i'm on hydrocodone. i was in constant pain and as soon as i started the hydrocodone i was able to live a

more productive and better life without pain. host: is hydrocodone oxycontin? caller: it didn't do anything for me. they gave me hydrocodone. host: is it addictive? caller: i don't think it is at the diff. for that officer to say if you take these drugs you are ending up taking heroin, i think that is ridiculous. mindsetople that have a to do drugs anyhow. they get hurt and all of a sudden they are taken these drugs.

i find that ridiculous. i saw some of the people there that seemed to be very smart. they have to do something about it. they are going to give you oxycodone and i was thinking any i don't know one of them that would prescribed a medicine or take a chance at losing their over something that is in need.

host: to some tweets -- buddy is calling in from asheville north carolina. caller: i have been listening to your program for about half an hour. i'm a product of the 60's in california. i had a real rough time with heroin. i am now 69 years old. in california i eventually ended up going to prison. i went to the california rehabilitation center. gotas a place where i treatment. i had a very good therapist, dr.

underwood. a bunch of convicts in this program. heroin is a drug that covers up all your mental, physical, and imo in a pain. it would last depending on how long i will inject. if i injected a $50 bag of heroin, it would be six hours. , bynded it by stealing working sometimes. could i would lose jobs because of stealing. i would lose lots of friendships, i was a musician at the time. i was just a mess.

when i went to a state-funded california, that is what i learned what it was that was driving this. and it was all these emotions beside myself and my up ringing. it was the abandonment issues i felt, the fear i felt from these abandonment issue. started tapping into that, i got to remember this was 69 years ago. got clean and sober and i have never used heroin since. doctor, a severe injury from falling off of a building on the job. my doctor prescribes the oxycodone. what i do is i take it exactly the way she prescribes it. to me that is taken responsibility. and theyt out there

get these prescribed drugs from their doctors and they don't take them responsibly, they are going to become addicted. if the doctor stop prescribing it or the pharmacies would not give them that drug, they are going to cover that area all the other pains that are inside of them mentally and physically are going to be covered up. -- this isephine josephine in manchester, new hampshire. caller: good morning, america. thank you for taking my call. i'm an old timer. i was a nurse in world war ii. in 67, when iblem

was working on my -- in nursing. about a write a paper problem that would harm america in the future. i saw this drug problem crawling out of the ghetto. as long as the white people in america saw how they could make , buck coming out of the ghetto they started it. first they went into the colleges as the person before me stated. went to they professional areas. doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, who at one time or another have either tried this drug or are still trying it.

happeny thing that will is once we stop making money on , and i know a few users -- or i didn't know it. what we need is treatment, but not mandatory treatment. time toerson says it is get off, there should be a bed available for them. money.eans more i have not been affected by this drug. i am a cancer survivor. i have used marijuana for a very short period. to get over the nausea.

host: did it help? caller: it definitely helped. host: how old were you win you used it? caller: 92. i just got over the cancer treatment. hopefully i'm cancer free at 94. i lived through the polio epidemic. i flipped through world war ii, i lived before that through the depression. -- i lived through world war ii, i lived before that through the depression. it was tough and people made it. we helped each other. the problem was family breakup. people do not communicate. ,nd their stupid phones

everybody is going to lose their voice. i remember an old time movie, and i don't remember what the name of the movie is, but the computers this big old that filled the theater. and this big sad old man was the last survivor because everybody lost their ability to communicate a kate -- to communicate with each other. world is coming to that with all the instant communication. stop that. for your timeu this morning. we very much appreciated. -- appreciate it. a tweet -- --

and she is with us -- angie is with us from cuyahoga falls. caller: i would like to talk about what the government is doing in this drug war. i live in a community where six years ago, the federal government put up a $15 million drug rehab center near the

school and the playground. it but weo prevent have someone coming in from the city wouldg us our be sued again if we try to prevent it. my next-door neighbor's has od od'ederal times -- several times. my whole family was involved in the manufacture -- their whole family was involved in the manufacture of crack cocaine. my complaint is the federal government is involved in providing housing and rehabilitation in governments where there are schoolchildren. are retired in our late 60's,

taking care of four children that are victims of the heroin addiction. i look at what the federal government has done. they removed the children from homes, and they are put in foster care. my children was put in foster care for almost three years. the state of ohio has a very limited view as to how we can help the children affected by the drug conditions at it -- drug addictions of any kind. i have a seven-year-old and a five-year-old who have witnessed their parents, one is a bot relative of mine. me about thed fights and the doctors bags with the needles. incarcerated for

only five years. he was found with a major supply of heroin and several thousands of dollars. host: if you could change the public policy angle, what would you do react: -- what would you do react to -- what would you do? caller: i would have the federal government stop making -- start -- ng we are talking about eliminating the drug addiction. we need to purchase one of those uninhabited islands in the pacific and take people who have been convicted to that island. ohio.that is angie in

trina is in florida. caller: thank you so much for taking my call. i would like to share with you both personally and professionally, i have a daughter who struggled with addiction. she struggled for 14 years. canada.riginally from she was five years clean and five years ago she relapsed. it got progressively worse until a year ago. she started shooting heroin because she no longer could get a prescription. field andng in the having a daughter, i think just about everything.

when you see a daughter struggling with heroin addiction -- they absolutely love them of their soul. i think we need a comprehensive plan. size --n is not a one one-size-fits-all. just to bring this into scope. my daughter almost died of a heroin overdose. the pain is beyond what any of us can imagine. i was called to the hospital and fortunately for us we ended up with a doctor whose nephew had recently died of a overdose.

i was told to go home and get some rest. she was taken a first step treatment. long story short, my daughter had been on methadone. i absolutely believe in harm reduction. we need a long-term plan. host: where is your daughter today? caller: my daughter is in a 30 month intensive treatment program. people coming few off of heroin within 28 days.

it is a revolving door. i hear a lot of people talking about obama care. obama careonly get insurance if they have done their taxes last year. i know very few drug addicts focused on doing their taxes. host: who is paying for that treatment? caller: i wrote a book which details my journeys -- my journey through my daughters drug addiction. host: i apologize but we are out of time. thank you for sharing your story. we might have time to get kenny the -- time to here.enny in the her

for thei did research patches for people with chronic pain. i saw people completely frustrated i the war on drugs. families -- the only drug free to -- drug been the solution that the government and the county can support. these drug problems are moving from the white neighborhoods. realize -- people have

criticized the communities. but that is the problem. host: thank you f >> gerrit bosses are in for your. cherry blossoms are in full bloom. the martin luther king jr. memorial and the reflection of the washington monument. an estimated 1.5 million people will attend national cherry blossom festival, all of this starting because of first lady helen taft. when helen taft became first lady, one of the first day and she did was addressed having cherry trees planted along the tidal basin. in the early 20th century the title basin was a mess. there was a speedway.

there was nothing to draw people or to make a beautiful place for people to gather and enjoy nature. helen taft wanted to change that. things she didt was to ask for trees to be planted. they were requested from nurseries in pennsylvania. the japanese heard about her interests, and they decided to give 2000 trees to the united states in her honor. the city of tokyo to the city of washington, as a gift, honoring the american support of japan in the rossetto-japanese war. the trees arrived in 1910. the trees that percent were older and very tall and bug infested. it was decided they would have to be burned. president taft made the decision that they would be earned. were accommodating an understanding decided to send 3000 trees, which arrived in

1912, and it is those that we still have a few up. this is the north section of the title a sin, where -- tidal basin where many of the trees were planted. and have are wider, gnarly branches. this is where helen cap would have planted the first -- taft would have planted the first trees in 1912. many people were injured it with things japanese, the architecture, culture, it was due to her that the trees are. today. from "first ladies: influence and image." you can find more about the series at www.c-span.org. the need for horses on the farm began to decline radically

in the 1930's. it was not until then that they've figured out how to make a rubber tire big enough to fit on a tractor. 1930's, you in the have an almost complete replacement of horses as for working animals on farms. i believe one of my books on horses, i read in the decade after world war ii, we had something like a horse holocaust , that the horses were no longer needed. we cannot get rid of them in a very pretty way. gordonay night, robert andusses his book "the rise fall of american growth." the growth'stions future. >> one of the things that interests people is the impact of super storm stain the

internet thousand 12. that wiped out the 20th century for many people. the elevators no longer worked. you could not charge your cell phones, or pump the gas in your car, which would iron electricity to pump. the combustion engine, which make modern life possible, is something people take for granted. class defense secretary ashton carter announced that isis second-in-command was killed in a raid in syria. said they had offered a $7 million reward for information on him. here is a conference with secretary carter.

>> good morning. thank you all for being here. reiteratingart by that our thoughts and prayers remain with all those affected by tuesday's bombings in brussels area as you know, this tragedy has hit our military community as well. our hearts go out to the injured air men and his family. like paris, brussels is a strong reminder of why we need to hasten the defeat of isil, wherever it exists in the world. today, the united states is as committed as ever to our european friends and allies. our enemies are one and the same. together, we continue to do more

and more to bring the full weight of our best military capabilities to bear in accelerating the defeat of isil. iter chairman dunford and spoke with our commanders this morning, let me update you on some new actions we have taken in just the last few days. first, we are systematically eliminating isil's cabinet. indeed, the u.s. military killed several key isil terrorists this week. including haji iman, and isil senior leader, and finance minister, and also responsible for external affairs and plots. he was a well-known terrorist within icicles --isil's ranks. liaison fored as a operations with pakistan.

the removal of this isil leader will hamper the organization's ability to conduct operations both inside and outside of iraq and syria. this is the second senior isil leader we have targeted this month. after confirming the death of isil's so-called minister of war, a short time ago. a few months ago, when i said we would go after isil's financial structure, we started at a site where they held other cash. and now we have taken out the leader, who oversees all the operations,isil's hurting their abilities to pay fighters and higher recruits. as i have said, our campaign plan is first and foremost, to in raqqaisil's parents

and mosul. they recently took a town, repelled isil's counterattacks, and severed the main artery between syria and northern iraq. as a result, it has become much harder for isil's leaders and forces to travel between raqqa and mosley. -- mosul. iraqilso pleased to see soldiers have advanced to new positions as part of the early stages of operations to collapse isil's control over mosul. ,he u.s. marines we have sent where staff sergeant cardiff gave his life, are now providing artillery fire through the crest of the iraqi's, against the enemy, protecting forces. in both syria and iraq, we are seeing important steps to shape what will become crucial battles

in the months to come. partners move forward, we are continuing to bring relentless pressure on isil commanders and mosul. and we have taken significant actions at week, one i have mentioned. a top leaderrgeted charged with paying fighters in iraq. next, we targeted a number of associates involved in external plotting and training. these precise actions came after recent strides had destroyed a significant quantity of improvised explosive devices and on making equipment that could have been used against our partners headed for mosul. we believe these actions have been successful and done damage to isil. as chairman dunford noted earlier this week, the momentum of this campaign is now clearly on our side.

the united states military will continue to work intensively with our coalition partners to build on this progress as our counterparts throughout our government work to defend our homeland at the same time. one final note before we turn to questions. yesterday, i spoke with my saudi counterpart, the defense minister. council defense ministerial on april 20 in riyaa d. president obama's participation in a leaders summit there, the following day. this would be an important forum to build on our counsel -- and discussing regional defense initiatives we to during the 2015

camp david summit last may. chairman dunford and i are now prepared to take your questions. we have limited time to do that because we have something else that we both need to do upstairs. respectsk you also to the fact that we are not going to go into any further details about how our coalition conducted the operations i mentioned earlier. that couldtails than put lives and our future operations at risk, and the effectiveness of our campaign. so we will ask you to be restrained in that regard, as we tend to be. >> gen. dunford: i join you and expect -- expressing my condolences in the americans and belgians and european losses week. lost soldiers in operations in iraq. secretary, i know you said

you did not want to go into any but the senior leader was in syria, more broadly, can you talk a little bit -- we all saw a lot of al qaeda leaders killed over the years, one killed every six months or so. what do you think this actual death, in terms of plots, particularly those involving the west, does that mean anything, or will they simply replace him? gen. dunford:et's take your first question first. a striking leadership is necessary, but far from sufficient. sec. carter: leaders can be replaced, however, these leaders

have been around for a long time. they are senior, they are experience. and so, eliminating them is an important objective. it achieves an important result. they will be replaced, and we will continue to go after their leadership and other aspects of their capabilities. it is important. joe? >> this week, their support of the iraqi offensive operation, , as time goes on in the fight to get to mosul, can you talk about whether this is a key part of what you want to see the militaries do more of in iraq during . gen. dunford: we are talking about conditions of success in mosul, to begin to isolate mosul

. that has begun. they were in direct support of that. we but the battery there to support the americans that are there, advising the iraqi forces. to provideposition support to iraqi forces. certainly no different conceptually then fire support we have provided for iraqis all along. in regards to further accelerants, the secretary and i expect increased capabilities provided to iraqis in mosul. those decisions have not been made yet, but we certainly to expect more of those things we --riyadh.qa and will be enough position to provide capabilities to make them successful. what about more of a ground

combat role than we have seen before. gen. dunford: no it is not. we have example that we have used in the past. there is not a fundamental shift in our support. this is the most appropriate tool for that particular location. carter, al-qaduli was in an iraqi risen up to 2012. he was released shortly after u.s. forces were pulled out. do you see this as a cautionary tale for releasing these prisoners, who are already cutting captured? sec. carter: a number of the leaders of isil were in detention in iraq act in former years, including the head of isil, himself, in iraqi

detention. so it is important that these are people that have experience, people who have shown dedication over the years, and that is why is so important that we eliminate them. >> doesn't give you pause about releasing prisoners from gitmo? sec. carter: that is precisely why we need an alternative detention facility, because it is not safe to release everybody and transfer them to the custody of another country. that is the very point of that. heard that there are 5000 troops on the ground in iraq. why is the pentagon and senior military leadership reluctant to say that it is more than 3800. the number that we track, in our force management level is 3800. that is not inconsistent come in terms of people that are in and out, temporary duty, people in

direct support of the embassy. those have not been counted, with a consistency, it is been going on for 15 years. at any given time we have 3800 and direct support of the mission. we don't double count numbers, so if a unit of 200 is replaced by a number of 200 and they are on the ground at the same time, we do not counted as 400. has not counted against our force management level. we are not denying that there are more people than 3800, but in terms of what we count in the accordance with the direction we have been given, the 3800 is against the mission. i did not say 5000 was accurate, i said 3800 was the management level, and the rest, people that support good embassy, people on tdy.

>> i have questions about the marines, and the firebase. unlike the previous military combat positions and fires -- fighter support, this is u.s. military only. by all indications, they are not just a defense of, but in this latest movement by iraqi forces, they provided fighter support for offense of operations against isis. why is this not the first program of a u.s. combat ground operation in iraq? gen. dunford: it is simply a function of geometry. they are designed to support area, and the camp provides effective fire support. this position was selected because the geometry necessary to support that particular

location. in regards providing support for iraqi defensive capabilities, to me, there is no inconsistency between what the art hillary did and what our aviation support is doing every single day. i don't draw distinction. to iraqiabling support forces as they conduct operations, exactly what the all -- artillery unit was doing. a common position now, that after a short. period, -- after a short of time, there are still all indications that the u.s. military is directly involved in the ground operations with the iraqis. gen. dunford: even since last week, as iraqis have consolidated their positions, the situation on the ground has changed in terms of where the iraqis are in terms of a relationship with defensive support they are providing to our artillery unit that is there. that has changed in the course

of the week. in all honesty, i cannot see this being inconsistent with everything we have been doing over the last several months. let me just add to that, what we will be doing in the coming months. this is our approach. eliminating isil from mosul. the iraqis are carrying out the assault, but we are helping them. that has been our approach. and we will continue to do that, starting in ramadi, going up to mosul. aren't u.s. ground forces closer to the front lines? gen. dunford: i need to clarify, this position is behind the forward line of troops. it is by no means out in front on its own. secondly, what i would say about your question about the future,

we have a series of recommendations that we will discuss with the president in the coming weeks to further a neighbor our support of the iraqi security forces. the secretary and i both believe there will be an increase to u.s. forces in iraq in the coming weeks. that decision has been made. you alluded to decisions already made, all that is pre-decision. no decisions have been made about this particular position in the future. but it will be decided in the context of a bigger issue brought to the president, focused on what do we need to do tomaintain a campaign, and continue operations in mosul. >> did you say whether or not this was a u.s. raid? i am not going to say where and how it was done, i

simply will not do that. the only thing i will say, it is our strategyth there, to put pressure on isil every way we can, from the leadership which we have discussed previously, with right down to supporting local forces .n the ground with respect to operations, in , i want to make clear and to reiterate everything we do is with the consultation and approval of the iraqi government. same, thesk you the city targeted, was that an airstrike? sec. carter: again, i am not going to talk about that. we have a number of ways we can do that, and i will ask for your forbearance there. we will be disciplined about that.

>> you had sent to congress of that, europeans need to step up their intelligence sharing. i know several people from the brussels attacks, on the watchlist, not let into the united states. are we sharing our intelligence with of the belgians? i can speak at the military level, i was speaking broadewhen i spoke to congress. intelligence agencies, military given abilities, law-enforcement, from a military perspective we have significantly increase our information and intelligence sharing over the last few months. we have specific locations where we bring together our coalition partners to do just that. 100 countriesr have fighters in syria and iraq, you see the numbers that exceed 35,000. i would not put it with a high degree of confidence, but it gives you an idea of the problem

of the magnitude we are dealing with. the foreigned by fighters are cooperating on the law enforcement level. though intelligence and military levels. it is necessary to take action against these individuals prior to attacks like the one we saw in brussels this week. the carter: getting back to fight in syria and iraq, i should also mention, a number of european partners to include belgium in the last month and a half after i had the ministerial chairman in brussels, they have increased their contributions. i wanted you to know that the belgians did that, too. syria,fight in iraq and i wanted to note that the belgians have intensified their role in lieu of what happened.

attacks that happened can you tie some of this together for us? these lots being directed from isis leadership? he had some external affairs plotting as well. could he been -- could he have been involved in the paris attack? are they training them to make bombs? what is the link you see between isis and syria? i cannot confirm that this individual had anything to do with the brussels attacks specifically. the general phenomenon you are describing is correct. the kinds of influence are various. they range all the way from a

fighters who have trained in and participated in isil operations in iraq and syria, returning to their countries of origin. sec. carter: and that is when these mary -- many foreign fighters are coming. right through ones who are recruited and traded -- trained by such individuals, but not have been in contact with isil forces directly. right back to those who are simply inspired by, maybe get some general instructions from isil, but are otherwise self-motivated and self radicalized. there is an entire spectrum here that law enforcement and counterintelligence colleagues are dealing with. link --e the

one other thing we should say, they have been part of the apparatus of isil to recruit and motivate foreign fighters, both to return from iraq and syria to countries in alsoe and elsewhere, and simply by using the internet and other communications to do so. so the leaders that you see in the paris and brussels attacks, what is your assessment? do you think that this cell that do yourged in europe, think they are being directed by isis leadership, or being to have, is that enough the expertise, equipment, technology? it is a relevant question.

we want to eliminate the people who are directing them. but even if it is just inspiration, it still takes you back to iraq and area, and the need to eliminate the sources of that inspiration. the idea that there can be an islamic state based upon this ideology with the capital in raqqa, we will eliminate that image. it is an important part of eliminating the inspiration. even if it is not direct. there is both direction and inspiration. we need to combat them all. i cannot speak for the paris and brussels cells. that is a law enforcement matter. my impression, it is a mixture of some who are inspired either by the internet or by a friend or associate or family member, who himself, did travel to iraq

and syria. what wethat next and already know of the cells involved in paris and brussels. that i will not presume that i know everything that the law enforcement officials know that they share through a law enforcement channels. you mention, for months, the process against isil has been frustratingly slow. now you say things are on your side. is this a turning point? are we seeing a sign that isil is it ready to crack? are they offering less resistance? sec. carter: we are certainly gathering momentum, and we are seeing that that momentum is having effect. we are broadening both the nature of our attacks on isil.

we have learned a great deal and continue to learn who is who in isil, so we can kill them, dry up their finances, and the forces that we are working with on the ground in both iraq and syria, continue to gather strength. our strategic approach for the retaking of territory is to help local forces to do so. , first with in iraq ramadi, and now other towns of that euphrates valley, and other areas of mosul, gathering momentum. you can see it also in syria, with -- an example i gave at the top of my statement, the taking of the town, the key connection .etween raqqa and mosul

the idea is to dissect the tumor of isil. ways, we arese gathering momentum, broadening the tools and the weight we are bringing. gen. dunford: we talk about momentum, and it is indisputable. we have made a dent in the resources, affected their control in a way. war --re is a lot of work that remains to be done. hashe same time, while isil not seized ground in the last months, that is not stop them from conducting terror attacks illa operations. i think momentum is in our favor.

there are a lot of reasons for us to be optimistic in the next few months. i know means, what i say we are about to break the back of isil, or that the fight is over. and one final note that i would make -- one final note that i would make, brussels reminds us that he central as the military effort is, and as confident as i am that we will is necessary, it but there is a critical law enforcement intelligence and homeland security ingredient to this. and there are partners in this fight here and in other countries. that thats a reminder fight is necessary as well, both in european countries than any other country potentially affected by that. with the back, let me all thank you very much. >> thank you.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> historic supreme court decisions. we explore real -- real life stories and dramas behind the most significant decisions in u.s. history. said that thisl is different. the constitution is a political document. it is also a law, and if it is a law, -- apart, it is the ultimate anti-precedent case. >> who should make the decisions about those debates?

the supreme court said it should make those decisions. cases," begins this monday night. >>, the supreme court oral argument regarding the contraception mandate and the health care law. and a discussion of the rise of in the united states. and, the syrian refugee crisis. >> on wednesday, the supreme court heard oral argument whether the health care laws mandate violates the religious freedom restoration act. among those challenging, are the little sisters of the poor, a group of nuns who operate nursing homes in colorado. this is about 90 minutes to read >> we will hear argument this morning in