[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3634 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3634

 To amend the Controlled Substances Act to lift the patient limitation 
 on prescribing drug addiction treatments by medical practitioners in 
                group practices, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 21, 2003

 Mr. Souder (for himself, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Tom Davis of Virginia, Mr. 
  Scott of Virginia, Mr. Ballenger, Mr. Terry, Mr. Acevedo-Vila, Mr. 
Sessions, Mr. Portman, and Mr. Boozman) introduced the following bill; 
  which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in 
    addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Controlled Substances Act to lift the patient limitation 
 on prescribing drug addiction treatments by medical practitioners in 
                group practices, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Drug Addiction Treatment Expansion 
Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Addiction to and abuse of opiates has devastating 
        repercussions for individuals, families, and the country. The 
        health and social consequences of drug abuse include risk of 
        HIV/AIDS and other health impacts, as well as repercussions for 
        families, schools, the workplace, and prisons.
            (2) According to household surveys, younger and wider 
        segments of the population are abusing heroin. Heroin was the 
        leading illicit drug among treatment admissions in 2000, 
        reported by 15 percent of the 1.6 million substance abuse 
        treatment admissions.
            (3) Between 1992 and 2000, heroin admissions for treatment 
        increased by 44 percent, and the number of admissions for new 
        users increased by 52 percent. Most disturbing, the proportion 
        of new heroin users admitted for treatment who were under age 
        25 grew from 30 to 41 percent from 1992 to 2000. In 1992, 48 
        percent of new heroin users age 18 to 24 reported injection as 
        the route of administration. By 2000, that figure had grown to 
        63 percent.
            (4) Between 81 and 86 percent of new heroin users admitted 
        for treatment have reported daily heroin use since 1992. 
        Substantial numbers of heroin users also abuse other drugs, 
        chiefly including cocaine and marijuana.
            (5) Abuse of narcotic pain medications is also a serious 
        and increasing problem. According to the Drug Abuse Warning 
        Network (``DAWN''), drug-abuse-related emergency room visits 
        attributable to abuse of narcotic pain medications rose 45 
        percent from 2000 to 2002, and 20 percent over just one year 
        from 2001 to 2002. Stemming and preventing such prescription 
        medication abuse will require a multi-pronged approach, 
        including major educational efforts and an increase of 
        substance abuse treatment options and capacity.
            (6) The Nation has had a longstanding goal of reducing the 
        myriad costs to society of drug addiction, and increasing 
        access to addiction treatment.
            (7) The National Institute on Drug Abuse has had a 
        longstanding research and development program, designed to 
        increase the availability of viable therapeutic interventions 
        for drug addiction.
            (8) The availability of new therapies and new methods of 
        providing therapy will both reach new populations and increase 
        the amount of treatment capacity available.
            (9) Congress, recognizing the crucial importance of 
        expanding drug addiction treatment options and capacity, 
        enacted the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (``DATA law'') 
        (title XXXV of the Children's Health Act of 2000; Public Law 
        106-310) to allow qualified practitioners to prescribe 
        addiction treatment medications from their office settings as 
        long as the number of patients to whom the practitioners 
        provide such treatment does not exceed 30 patients.
            (10) Since enactment of the DATA law, a new treatment 
        option already has been approved by the Food and Drug 
        Administration and is now available for qualified practitioners 
        to prescribe for their patients, as a direct result of the 
        commitment of Congress and the Federal Government to reduce the 
        social and personal impact of the illness of drug addiction.
            (11) For practitioners in a group practice, the DATA law 
        established a single 30-patient limit for the entire group 
        practice, rather than a 30-patient limit per practitioner. 
        Qualified and trained practitioners practicing addiction 
        treatment in group practice settings and academic health 
        centers have realized an unexpected negative impact on their 
        ability to serve their patients effectively and as anticipated 
        by the DATA law, as a result of the law's patient limitation on 
        group practices.
            (12) Neither Congress nor the DATA law intended that the 
        quality of care would be less for patients receiving care in 
        group practices, which are a principal mode of health care 
        delivery in the United States.
            (13) The DATA law's 30-patient limit on group practices is 
        having the unintended consequence of denying addiction 
        treatment to patients who seek and require it, in direct 
        contrast to the overall purpose of such law.

SEC. 3. MAINTENANCE OR DETOXIFICATION TREATMENT WITH CERTAIN NARCOTIC 
              DRUGS; ELIMINATION OF 30-PATIENT LIMIT FOR GROUP 
              PRACTICES.

    (a) In General.--Section 303(g)(2)(B) of the Controlled Substance 
Act (21 U.S.C. 823(g)(2)(B)) is amended by striking clause (iv).
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 303(g)(2)(B) of the Controlled 
Substance Act (21 U.S.C. 823(g)(2)(B)) is amended in clause (iii) by 
striking ``In any case'' and all that follows through ``the total'' and 
inserting ``The total''.
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