Heroin Opioid Crisis

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ZELDIN. Mr. Speaker, the growing heroin and opioid crisis has especially hit home in my district in Suffolk County, New York. There was a 2015 report issued in New York State that showed that, out of all 62 counties in New York, it was my home county that was hit the hardest by the rise of heroin and opioid abuse. We had the highest number of heroin-related overdose deaths of any county in New York.

As a member of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic, I have spoken with affected families directly. Addiction is a truly devastating disease that shatters lives, families, and communities. It is a disease that only continues to spread at rapid rates, and more can and must be done to counteract the damage it has done and prevent its rapid advancement.

Working closely with my local community, I have been pursuing a more localized solution to address this crisis. Hosting multiple drug task force roundtables in Suffolk County, I have been able to bring together local elected officials, law enforcement, health professionals, community groups, parents, concerned residents, and those in recovery to discuss various ways that we can work together to combat this epidemic. Over the past year, working with both local residents and my colleagues in Congress, I have been pushing to advance legislation in the House that would help provide us with the resources we need to end the growing epidemic crisis on Long Island.

Just last week, joined by my local community, I was proud to announce that there has been progress made to pass several important bills this week aimed at improving and increasing access to treatment, enforcement, and education. The House is now passing many of these critically important measures over the course of the next few days.

While I have been dedicating the most amount of my time advocating for the passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, CARA, H.R. 593, many other important proposals are also moving forward.

One other bill that I cosponsor is H.R. 4641, which will be passing today, which would improve the guidelines for prescribing opioids and pain medication by creating a Federal interagency and stakeholder task force that would review, modify, and update best practices for pain management in prescribing pain medication. While there are many legitimate reasons and needs for some to be treated with pain medication, those highly addictive pills pose a serious risk. This critical bill would help ensure that all parties, from prescribers to patients, have access to the most up-to-date information so that lawful prescription use does not become addicting.

Just a few of the other bills include the Examining Opioid Treatment Infrastructure Act of 2016, H.R. 4982, which would require Congress receive a report on substance abuse treatment availability and infrastructure needs in the U.S., and legislation that would task a Federal agency to create a plan on how to deal with the opioid and heroin epidemic, H.R. 4976.

Legislation is passing to help stop the flow of illegal narcotics into our country, to keep drugs out of our communities and off our streets, such as legislation to help law enforcement officials identify and target drug traffickers, H.R. 3380, and to allow for easier prosecution of these criminals, H.R. 4985.

There is not one piece of legislation that will completely solve this overwhelming crisis, but finally Congress is taking a big step forward in the fight against drug abuse. We must always do everything in our power to provide our local communities with the resources necessary to help stop and prevent drug abuse through treatment, enforcement, and education, which is why I will continue pushing these efforts in the House.

I have spoken to parents of those recovering, parents of those who are unfortunately lost. It is impacting lives. It is devastating families.

Have a conversation in each of our districts, all 435 congressional districts, and we all hear the story all too often. It is not any race, gender, or socioeconomic status. It is not one particular school district. It is impacting all of our children.

As the father of two 9-year-old girls, I visited their class last week. I think of their generation, and it is important that this generation in Congress today does everything in our power this week and beyond to combat this epidemic.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source