[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 163 (Tuesday, December 18, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H6836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  KEEP CRUSHABLE PILLS OFF THE MARKET

  (Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, while the impending fiscal cliff 
is on our minds, I rise to alert my colleagues to another end-of-the-
year deadline with potentially deadly consequences. If the FDA fails to 
act, on January 1 our streets could be flooded with cheap, crushable 
prescription painkillers ripe for abuse and misuse.
  After OxyContin came on the market 15 years ago, a wave of overdose 
deaths devastated entire towns in my region of Appalachian Kentucky 
before spreading like wildfire to the big cities and suburban 
communities across the country. By crushing these 12-hour-delay pain 
pills, abusers can experience a euphoric, and sometimes deadly, high.
  But today, the FDA has an opportunity to keep these crushable pills 
out of our children's reach. A number of prescription medicines already 
on the market use tamper-resistant technologies that can cut back on 
abuse. No generic pill should come to market without these live-saving 
features.
  The FDA must take the necessary steps to keep us from careening off 
this pain-pill cliff.

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