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Where do Blackburn and Bredesen stand on the opioid epidemic?

The opioid epidemic is taking center stage in the hotly contested race for United States senate in Tennessee.

You've probably seen the ads on television, heard them on the radio, or scrolled through them on social media. Just weeks before election day, they are everywhere and often focus on the opioid epidemic.

The overdose epidemic is taking center stage in the hotly contested race for U.S. senate in Tennessee. Both republican Marsha Blackburn and democrat Phil Bredesen have made drugs a top issue of their campaigns.

Both say the drug epidemic is a top priority.

"This is something that touches every single family," said Congresswoman Blackburn.

"The best emphasis is to put things on the front end, on the prevention side," said former Governor Phil Bredesen. "I think there are a lot of additional tools we can give law enforcement to shutting down these pill mills."

But which candidate is better prepared to help solve the opioid epidemic? It depends on who you ask.

"You know it's just something you never forget. It really is and I'm getting a little emotional about it now," said Jim Geldhof, a retired DEA Agent and Phil Bredesen supporter. "Congresswoman Blackburn was instrumental in sponsoring and passing legislation that I thought had a really bad effect on the DEA’s ability to regulate the industry."

He appears in a new ad attacking Marsha Blackburn for sponsoring a bill that he says made it more difficult for DEA agents to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable. A 60 Minutes and Washington Post investigation uncovered the bill took away the authority from the DEA to enforce parts of the Controlled Substances Act.

"These companies were shipping millions of doses of controlled substances that nobody in their right mind could possibly think was for legitimate purposes," said Geldhof.

Bredesen says he'd work to repeal the law.

"Undoing what the congress did a couple years ago to sort of defang the DEA and giving prosecutors perhaps some ways of getting an independent look would be a good start," said Gov. Bredesen.

Blackburn stands by what she calls a bipartisan bill that helped curb the epidemic. The bill passed through the house and senate in 2016 through unanimous consent with no objections and no recorded votes.

"Everything we've done related to the opioid epidemic is something that is bipartisan and indeed. I've been a leader on that," said Blackburn.

Another ad claims Bredesen presided over a huge increase in opioid deaths.

"As Governor, Phil Bredesen let the opioid crisis spiral out of control," the ad states. "On Bredesen's watch, the opioid death rate doubled."

According to the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, 660 people died from drug overdoses in Tennessee in 2003, the year Bredesen took office. In 2011, when Bredesen left office, 1,062 people died from overdoses. But it's a number that has continued to climb. In 2017, 1,776 people died from suspected drug overdoses in the state.

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