--- title: Democratic Debate: Sanders Calls Heroin Addiction a Disease description: "We need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity," Sanders said. canonical: https://time.com/4156176/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-heroin-disease-crime/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-20T05:07:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:29.724Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democratic Debate: Sanders Calls Heroin Addiction a Disease og:description: "We need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity," Sanders said. og:url: https://time.com/4156176/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-heroin-disease-crime/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ede4e672efb39fa/6988763fbc6cfc526b3daf17/sanders-heroin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders answers a question at the Democratic presidential candidates debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democratic Debate: Sanders Calls Heroin Addiction a Disease twitter:description: "We need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity," Sanders said. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ede4e672efb39fa/6988763fbc6cfc526b3daf17/sanders-heroin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders Calls Drug Addiction a 'Disease' Not a Crime > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8aecdd01-6cee-415d-9c80-91e932ab8592&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lTPNqlFm.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2015-12-20. Here are the highlights from the final Democratic debate of 2015._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 20, 2015 5:07 AM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 20, 2015 5:07 AM UTC Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said addiction is a “disease not a criminal activity” during a discussion on America’s heroin epidemic during Saturday night’s Democratic debate. The debate took a somber turn when the candidates addressed the high levels of heroin and opioid use across the country. According to the [Centers of Disease Control and Prevention](http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/heroin/), the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths have quadrupled between 2002 and 2013\. The Senator’s home state of Vermont has been hit particularly hard by heroin addiction, with the governor calling it a “[full-blown crisis](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/us/a-call-to-arms-on-a-vermont-heroin-epidemic.html)” in 2014. [Read More: Democrats Clash in Final Debate of 2015](http://time.com/4155432/democratic-debate-third-data-breach/) On Saturday, Sanders said the epidemic calls for a “radical” change in the approach to addiction in America, saying the health care community needs to “get its act together” when both prescribing opioids and addressing issues of mental health and addiction. Candidates Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley also touched on the issue. The former Secretary of State said she’s addressed the issue in town halls and laid out a “five point plan” on how to better handle the crisis. O’Malley recalled overdoses of close family friends and his experience with heroin given his former position as mayor of Baltimore, which has often been called a “[heroin capital](http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92699)” of the U.S. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Does secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? Yes, I apologize. We should move on because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. [ MUSIC ] We're listening to the bickering back and forth. Maybe that's normal politics in Washington, but that is not the politics of higher purpose the people expect from our party. [ MUSIC ] And excuse me, no. Governor, now to be able to abide by the rules here, we'll call on you shortly. But I do wanna pick up on something. Actually passed, Comprehensive guns, safety legislation with a ban on combat assault weapons David. [ MUSIC ] They want American soldiers on the ground fighting them. [ MUSIC ] Giving them many more targets, and giving them a great recruiting opportunity. I believe in action, in which we put together a strong coalition of forces. [ MUSIC ] Out of pocket costs have gone up too much. And prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. The greed of wall street is destroying this economy. And it's destroying the lives of millions of Americans. This one falls under the category of " I have actually done this ". I believe that all of our kids should go into an income- based repayment plan. [ mmm ] [ MUSIC ] Must never surrender them to the fascist pleas of billionaires with big mouths. He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos- [ APPLAUSE ] Of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4156176/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-heroin-disease-crime/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4156176/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-heroin-disease-crime/"},"headline":"Bernie Sanders Calls Drug Addiction a 'Disease' Not a Crime","datePublished":"2015-12-20T05:07:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:40:29.724Z","description":"Targeting the heroin epidemic","url":"https://time.com/4156176/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-heroin-disease-crime/","keywords":["Bernie Sanders","Drugs","Heroin","Democratic debate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ede4e672efb39fa/6988763fbc6cfc526b3daf17/sanders-heroin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ede4e672efb39fa/6988763fbc6cfc526b3daf17/sanders-heroin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic U.S. presidential candidate U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders answers a question at the Democratic presidential candidates debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester","caption":"Democratic U.S. presidential candidate U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders answers a question at the Democratic presidential candidates debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester","creditText":"Brian Snyder—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/bernie-sanders/","name":"Bernie Sanders"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4156176/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-heroin-disease-crime/","name":"Bernie Sanders Calls Drug Addiction a 'Disease' Not a Crime"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes","description":"Here are the highlights from the final Democratic debate of 2015.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lTPNqlFm/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-20T05:14:20.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lTPNqlFm.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4156176/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-heroin-disease-crime/","duration":"PT1M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4156176/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-heroin-disease-crime/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```