[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 5, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H1601-H1602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      ADDICTION AND MENTAL HEALTH

  (Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, a 
gifted and talented actor, didn't have to die. His death is all too 
common. In the past 6 years, heroin use has doubled, with 1 million ER 
visits and several thousand deaths that will occur this year from an 
overdose.
  This is not just a law enforcement issue but a public health issue 
because addiction is a mental disease.

[[Page H1602]]

  Many treatments for addiction are modeled on peer support like 
Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, valuable and important 
organizations that provide a pathway to helping a person overcome an 
addiction through peer support, but peer support is only support. It is 
not the whole treatment.
  In Time magazine, a parent whose son died of a drug overdose said:

       I did everything I could, but I failed him. Everything 
     included eight residential treatment programs and four 
     outpatient programs.

  Addiction programs don't always do everything right. Ninety percent 
of those who enter treatment programs don't receive evidence-based 
treatment. The fact is there is a lack of mental health professionals, 
broken Federal policies, and a severe shortage of acute care 
facilities.
  I encourage my colleagues to join me in sponsoring the Helping 
Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 3717. Let's get people the 
help they need.

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