America Must Act Now to Confront Heroin and Opioid Abuse Crisis

Statement

The rapid rise in drug abuse across the country, specifically the sharp increase in heroin and prescription opioid abuse, has severely impacted our local community and has become a major issue across the country.

Tragically, 78 people each day will lose their battle with addiction, and their life, as a result of an opioid or heroin overdose. Sadly, with the trends moving the way they are, this number will only continue to increase. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2014, over 28,000 people lost their lives due to prescription opioid pain relievers or heroin. This was the highest recorded number of overdose deaths of any year. Newsday just reported an increase in overdose deaths on Long Island, stating that 442 people died of a heroin or opiate overdose in 2015, a number that has increased from 403 overdose deaths the prior year.

Addiction is a devastating disease that takes hold of our loved ones and impacts everyone around that person. This is a lonely and heartbreaking disease that is taking lives, tearing families apart, and destroying our communities. It must be stopped.

In a report that highlights the growing drug abuse epidemic sweeping across our nation, the CDC found that over the past decade, heroin use has doubled among young adults ages 18--25 and heroin-related overdose deaths have nearly quadrupled, with every six out of ten drug overdoses linked to opioids or heroin. The CDC also found that almost half of the people who use heroin are also struggling with a prescription opioid addiction. As drug abuse continues to rise, claiming lives and grabbing hold of our youth, it's clear that we must come together to address this crisis.

Throughout my time in the New York State Senate, and now in the United States Congress, one of my top priorities has been to support legislation to help those coping with drug addiction by increasing treatment and recovery services.

One piece of legislation that I am proud to support and cosponsor is the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, also known as "CARA," (H.R. 953). CARA would provide up to $80 million in funding to help prevent and treat addiction on a local level through community-based education, prevention, treatment and recovery programs. The grants made available through this bill would also provide the funding necessary to expand prescription drug monitoring in states throughout our country. Additionally, CARA provides funding to supply our police force and emergency medical responders with higher quantities of Naloxone, a medication that is proven to reverse an opioid overdose. Since this bill was introduced at the beginning of last year, I have been pushing for a vote on CARA in the House. Just last month, CARA passed in the U.S. Senate by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 94-1. Now it's time to bring this bill to the House floor. As a member of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic, passage in the House of CARA is a top priority of mine and I'll keep fighting so that we can pass this essential piece of legislation and send it to the President's desk for his signature.

Another important piece of legislation that I am pushing to advance in the House is The Stop Overdose Stat (SOS) Act (H.R. 2850). The SOS Act, which I cosponsor, would provide an additional $25 million over a 5 year period for Naloxone production and distribution, to help increase the supply of this lifesaving medication, so that more medical professionals and families have it in their possession, and are trained and ready to administer. This bill would also establish a preventative research task force, which would research ways to prevent future overdose deaths, taking a unique, preventative approach to fight against drug abuse. In Congress, I'll keep working to move this bipartisan legislation through the House.

Fighting drug abuse must be an effort at all levels of the government, but it also must be a community effort as well. That is why I have hosted press conferences and panel discussions, including a community summit and drug task force roundtable here on Long Island, to bring together local elected officials, law enforcement, health professionals, community groups, parents, concerned residents and recovering substance abusers, so that we can all develop and pursue necessary solutions.

CARA and the SOS Act are only two of the many bills that are in the House that we can pass to help fight against the growing drug crisis. There are a number of other bills that we can pass, including the Examining Opioid Treatment Infrastructure Act of 2016 (H.R. 4982), which would require the Comptroller General to issue a report to Congress on substance abuse treatment availability and infrastructure needs across the country, as well as legislation that would task the FDA to create a plan on how to deal with the opioid and heroin epidemic (H.R. 4976). The House is also expected to take up legislation to stop the flow of illegal substances into our country, such as H.R. 3380, which would help law enforcement officials identify and target drug traffickers, and H.R. 4985, which makes it easier to prosecute drug traffickers.

We must all continue to support legislation that addresses the rise in heroin and opiate abuse to stop the tragic loss of life, family and community as a result of addiction.

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