Washington DC – North Carolina’s Democratic candidate for Attorney General Rep. Jeff Jackson recently sat down with PBS State Lines to discuss his motivations for running for AG and what he plans on tackling once elected into office. 

After the state Supreme Court flipped to Republican control and Rep. Jackson was gerrymandered out of his congressional district, he knew the call to the AG office was a public service opportunity he couldn’t turn his back on. Now, as he runs for office, Rep. Jackson says he’s focused on combating the fentanyl crisis and funding local law enforcement to keep North Carolinians safe. 

Key Highlights: 

• “One big thing the next attorney general is going to be taking on is this ongoing fentanyl epidemic,” Rep. Jackson said. “We’re losing an average of nine people a day. I think of this in terms of the supply side and the demand side. On the supply side, the AG has an obligation to do a better job of identifying and breaking apart the distribution cells that exist within our state.

• “On the demand side, it’s about the most effective form for treatment. The folks who are addicted to fentanyl, they’re not using it to get high. They haven’t gotten high in years. They’re using it to stave off withdrawal, which is why the most effective form of addiction treatment for fentanyl is medicated-assisted. Gets you through the withdrawal period. My job as Attorney General would be to advocate for the most effective form of addiction treatment.”

• Other key issues Rep. Jackson wants to focus on are social and outreach programs, and most importantly, keeping North Carolinians safe with proper funding of law enforcement. “There are over a dozen different forms of state law enforcement and they’re not all funded in a standardized way. Some of them are really underfunded. The DMV Theft Bureau, which we rely on to help combat grand theft auto, is really underfunded. I want to be a champion for law enforcement, making sure that they’re properly paid, especially law enforcement at the state level. Look, if you want good response time, if you want to give community policing a real chance, you have to have properly funded law enforcement.”

• Rep. Jackson continues, “Well, the primary directive here is to keep people safe. So I’m interested in supporting protocols that allow us to do that. If you talk to law enforcement, particularly in some of our urban areas, the reason they use community policing is because they’ve found establishing those relationships is really important for keeping people safe because they get calls about wh to be on the lookout for, who just committed a crime. Being able to be trusted in all these diverse communities, really important for keeping people safe.”

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