[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 73 (Tuesday, May 10, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H2203-H2209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMBATING THE HEROIN AND OPIOID EPIDEMIC
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Guinta) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Mr. GUINTA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members have 5
legislative days to revise and extend their remarks in the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Hampshire?
There was no objection.
Mr. GUINTA. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the
gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark), who is doing great work in
this area. New England is particularly stressed with an opioid
epidemic, as are many other States around the country, but her work is
important because we share a cross-State border. We need to continue to
work together on this particular issue.
I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Dold), a leader on the
heroin and opioid epidemic and bringing legislation to the floor.
Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend for yielding. I
want to thank Representative Guinta for his leadership with the
Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic. I also want to
thank Representative Kuster and Representative Clark for their
leadership on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, between 2001 and 2014, there was a threefold increase in
prescription drug overdoses. What was amazing is that during that same
period of time there was a sixfold increase in heroin overdoses in the
United States. This is truly an epidemic. Today every 19 minutes,
someone dies from a heroin overdose.
In Chicago's collar counties, we lose one individual every 3 days. In
Cook County, it is more than one a day. As the co-chair of the Illinois
Suburban Anti-Heroin Task Force, I have seen the unimaginable suffering
that heroin has brought into families in our community. Naloxone,
however, has proven to be hugely successful as a lifesaving
[[Page H2204]]
antidote. When used, naloxone helps restore breathing that has been
stopped by an overdose of heroin.
In Lake County, Illinois, alone, over the course of a little bit over
a year, over 74 lives have been saved with naloxone. This program
equips police with the overdose antidote and trains them how to
administer this medication. What was fascinating was that the police
force didn't have to be asked to do this. They actually requested to
have the opportunity because they were coming to these scenes over and
over and over again, usually about 5 to 7 minutes before first
responders and the fire department would come, before the paramedics
would be there. They didn't want to actually watch these young people,
these individuals, these people who were addicted just wither away and
die. So they were given naloxone, they were given the training, and
thus we have seen the success in one county across our country.
My work with the Lake County Opioid Initiative inspired me to
introduce Lali's Law with Representative Clark. Our bill is named in
honor of Alex Laliberte, a young man from Stevenson High School, who
passed away just before his finals in his sophomore year.
Now, what is amazing about Alex is that Alex was a normal guy. He
played sports, had lots of friends, had good grades, your typical all-
American, red-blooded young man. Yet when he was in college in that
first part of his sophomore year, he started to get sick, and he went
into the hospital. His parents and his teachers, nobody really knew
what was wrong, but he was actually going through withdrawal from
prescription drugs. He would get better and then, all of a sudden,
would repeat this process, until eventually he passed away.
Lali's Law will help increase access to naloxone by providing grant
money to States as they implement standing order programs that will
allow pharmacists to dispense naloxone over the counter without a
person-specific prescription. With increased access, the World Health
Organization says that we will be able to save at least 20,000
additional lives each and every year.
{time} 2015
Naloxone is one piece of the puzzle to combat the opioid epidemic.
Another piece is getting addicts saved by naloxone--those that have had
that second chance at recovery--into treatment.
This summer the Lake County Opioid Initiative is rolling out another
program with the help of police officers who are trying to become that
link between the addicts. They are trying to get those suffering from
addiction into treatment centers that can actually help them. They want
to bring them in.
They say: We don't want to put you in handcuffs. We don't want to put
you behind bars. We actually want to get you into treatment. So bring
your paraphernalia in, bring the drugs in here, and let's try to get
you into an area where you can get that treatment that you need.
We are also encouraging people to properly dispose of their excess
medications, especially prescription opioids. The Lake County Underage
Drinking and Drug Prevention Task Force has set up drug take-back boxes
throughout Lake County at police departments.
What is amazing is that, over the course of the last year, they have
collected 12,000 pounds of prescription drugs. This is just in the
police station.
So we went to Walgreens and said: Please help us. Please help us get
this word out. Please help us make it easier for us to allow people to
get their prescriptions that they don't need--the excess--back. They
are able to and said they would happily to do that.
I am so pleased to announce that Walgreens said they are going to put
500 prescription take-back boxes throughout the country. This is a huge
step forward. CVS is working on education programs. So we appreciate
those outside of the Congress that are helping us in this regard.
I am thrilled that we are taking up these incredible bills, these
great bills, these steps forward that will help our communities combat
the opioid epidemic by leveraging resources in our judicial and public
health systems.
I encourage my colleagues to take a look at these very seriously. I
encourage my colleagues not only to vote for these, but I encourage my
colleagues to go back to their community and educate their citizens,
their families, their organizations in their district, about this
incredible epidemic.
There are parents I encounter today that say, ``It is not in my
neighborhood,'' and it is, ``It is not in my school,'' and it is. The
evidence is far too overwhelming.
Frankly, this is why this week, in a bipartisan effort, Republicans
and Democrats alike are coming together to shed light on what we see
each and every day.
Because there is no way in the world we can have another parent walk
into a bedroom to find another child that has overdosed without doing
all that we can to try to prevent that tragedy from happening ever
again.
So, again, I want to thank Frank Guinta, I want to thank Ann Kuster,
and I want to thank all of those that have come tonight to help combat
this incredible epidemic.
Mr. GUINTA. I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Dold),
for his leadership in Lali's Law and making sure that that bill comes
to the floor for passage, as it is incredibly important to his district
and honors Alex and his challenge.
I yield to the gentlewoman from New Hampshire (Ms. Kuster), my friend
and the co-chairman of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin
Epidemic, who is working diligently with me on this task force to do
everything we can to help citizens of our State and the Nation.
Ms. KUSTER. I thank Mr. Guinta for his leadership and all of the
participants in this bipartisan Special Order who are putting a face on
the heroin epidemic all across the country.
This evening I rise, as co-chair of the Bipartisan Task Force to
Combat the Heroin Epidemic, to join my colleagues on both sides of the
aisle who have spoken to highlight the impact that this devastating
impact has had in our home State of New Hampshire and all across the
country.
Just a few months ago our task force held a similar Special Order to
focus on the human impacts of this crisis and how it is affecting
families and friends and colleagues in communities all across our
districts. While the crisis has continued, the good news is that we are
now making important progress toward a solution here in Congress.
I am appreciative of the important work that the Senate undertook in
passing the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, and I want to
thank Democratic and Republican leadership as well of the relevant
committees for their hard work in recent weeks in bringing legislation
to the floor of the House this week.
At the same time, I call upon my colleagues to ensure that this
important work fulfills its intended purpose by providing the necessary
assistance to treatment and recovery efforts that are so critical to
responding to this crisis.
Recently, in January, I spoke about my dear friend Kriss'
stepdaughter, Amber, who tragically died from an overdose after a
treatment bed was unavailable for her after leaving incarceration. This
story, of course, illustrates the tragic consequences that limited
treatment capacities can have for vulnerable members of our
communities.
Another heartbreaking story in my district involves Carl, the son of
my constituent and good friend, Sue Messinger.
At 24 years old, Carl had been using heroin on and off for about a
year before he finally approached his parents to talk about his
addiction. To put it simply, his parents were stunned.
Carl was a recent college graduate who earned good grades and had his
eyes set on applying to dental school. It was almost inconceivable to
them that such a high-achieving young man could fall victim to opioid
addiction. But as they learned that day and as we all now know too
well, there is no one face of addiction.
After discussing his addiction at length with his parents and asking
for their help and support as he began his journey to recovery, Carl's
parents were able to secure him a place at a detox program over 50
miles away from home, the only one that would take him as a cash-paying
client because their insurance would not cover an opioid detox program.
Six days later Carl successfully completed the detox and was
discharged to
[[Page H2205]]
return home to his parents. Over the next several weeks, Carl continued
on his road to recovery. He passed every drug test and remained
resolutely committed to avoiding all drugs and alcohol. His family was
so pleased to see him getting better with each and every day.
But when Carl came down with an upper respiratory infection shortly
thereafter, a fatal error occurred in treating the infection. Unaware
of Carl's history of addiction and his recent completion of detox, the
doctor who saw Carl for his respiratory infection prescribed
Cheratussin AC syrup, a narcotic cough suppressant.
Triggered by the codeine in the cough syrup, Carl's addiction was
instantly reawakened. When Carl could resist the craving no longer, he
decided to inject. The substance he injected, however, was pure
fentanyl, 50 times more powerful than heroin. He died of an overdose in
his family's home.
There were no labels on the bottle that indicated that cough medicine
could trigger such drug-seeking behavior and no way for Carl or his
parents to know that his cough medicine could pose such a fatal danger.
Since his death, his mother Sue has spoken out about the need to
reform labeling requirements to make sure that no other family has to
endure what she has had to live through. Carl was an educated, kind,
driven young man who came from a supportive family, and this tragedy
could occur to anyone.
The tragedy of Carl's story is why I was proud to help introduce
Jessie's Law. Sponsored by Representative Walberg, this bill would seek
to ensure that medical professionals have full knowledge of a patient's
previous opioid addiction.
It seeks to do this by requiring the Secretary of Health and Human
Services to develop standards for the prominent display of a patient's
history of opioid addiction in their medical records when those
patients consent to include that information and by ensuring that the
information can more easily be shared among providers with consent.
While this legislation was only recently introduced and is not
included in the current package of bills, I am hopeful we can work on
bipartisan basis to bring this important bill to the floor before the
end of this session.
I am very pleased with the legislation we are considering this week
that will have a measurable impact to move the needle in finding this
epidemic.
Among the 15 bills on the floor this week, half are part of the
legislative agenda developed by the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the
Heroin Epidemic that I started with my colleague, Congressman Guinta.
Additionally, provisions of several other bills are included in
legislation being considered.
So this week represents truly important progress in the House. It is
critical that those who have engaged in the fight against the epidemic
continue to press on in our efforts to include critical financial
assistance for prevention, treatment, and recovery in our final bill.
As we reflect tonight on those we have lost to this epidemic and
those who are still fighting it, let us continue to focus to ensure our
communities have the help that they need to put this crisis behind is.
Again, I thank all of our colleagues who are working to stop this
epidemic.
Mr. GUINTA. I want to thank the gentlewoman from New Hampshire for
talking about Carl and our good friend Kriss and her stepdaughter
Amber.
I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick), my
colleague.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. I thank Representative Guinta for yielding and for
his incredible and sustained leadership, along with Representative
Kuster and others, on this important bipartisan work.
I know that we all wonder if the work that we do here in the Nation's
capital--the bills that we consider, the votes that we cast--is having
an impact on individuals.
I truly believe--and I know that each of us do--that, if we can pass
the bills that are being discussed here tonight, we can get them
through the Senate and on the President's desk. If they could become
law, we literally could save lives. We could see families being saved.
For some that we represent, the opioid drug use may seem a world
away. But, sadly, the numbers remove any doubt about heroin's impact so
close to home when we have heard those stories told over and over again
this evening.
By every metric, the effects of heroin has reached epidemic levels. I
heard Representative Courtney earlier today here on the floor speak
about the epidemic as a national emergency. With that I agree.
In Pennsylvania, heroin overdoses and opioid abuse will kill more
people than homicides or influenza. In some States, it is more deadly
than automobile accidents.
There are several reasons for the rising statistics, Mr. Speaker,
including the increased supply and decreased cost of heroin and the
increasing number of Americans addicted to opioid painkillers.
At a townhall meeting last fall in Quakertown, Bucks County,
Pennsylvania, in my district, graduates of the Bucks County Drug Court
shared their inspirational journeys toward recovery.
These stories, while marked with tragedy, are also punctuated with
the hope that their message can save others from the pain and the loss
of heroin addiction. Their message is having an impact.
My community of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and others around this
country are joining in the fight against drug abuse. Just 2 weeks ago,
Bucks County residents helped dispose of more than 10,394 pounds of old
pills and prescription drugs.
I just heard this evening both Representative Dold and Representative
Chabot speak about what they referred to as drug take-back days. We in
Bucks County have removed literally tons of prescription drugs from the
street, medicine cabinets, and from the water stream. Remove the supply
as we work to remove the demand.
As a member of the task force, I am continuing to work with leaders
like those speaking here tonight in both political parties toward a
common goal of developing and enacting these national policies to stem
the rising tide of drug use and drug abuse.
Through the hard work of this task force and the tireless efforts of
local recovery advocates across our country, this week the House will
take an important step toward passing comprehensive policies designed
to help combat the opioid epidemic facing our Nation.
I am proud to be part of this effort that will undoubtedly help save
others from the pain and the loss of addiction.
I thank Representative Guinta for his leadership. We look forward to
the success of these bills here this week.
Mr. GUINTA. I thank Congressman Fitzpatrick for his leadership on the
bipartisan task force and for working with us to combat this
significant challenge.
I yield to the gentleman from Staten Island, New York (Mr. Donovan).
Mr. DONOVAN. I thank Congressman Guinta and Congresswoman Kuster for
their leadership in this area.
Mr. Speaker, this week the House of Representatives will act to pass
a package of bills addressing the opioid crisis.
One of them, the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act, will
authorize new grant programs for cities and nonprofits for education,
treatment, and enforcement, and not a minute too soon.
Opioid abuse is an epidemic. It is everywhere you look. It is in our
neighborhood, in our social circles, and in our schools. Too many
parents have buried their sons and daughters or watched them struggle
for years with addiction, treatment, and relapse. It has to stop.
An effective response needs to address three areas: education,
treatment, and enforcement. Today's youth have to be educated about the
dangers of addiction, and loved ones need to learn to recognize the
early signs.
{time} 2030
The legislation the House will pass this week authorizes new grants
to prevent the next generation from abusing pills and heroin.
Proven diversion programs, like the drug treatment courts I
participated in as district attorney of Staten Island
[[Page H2206]]
for 12 years, should have the resources and the staffing needed to
accomplish their mission: To get users off of drugs.
The Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act authorizes grants to
establish new drug courts and expand those already in operation.
However, we must follow up on our efforts this week and ensure that the
grant application process is not overly complicated and onerous.
In the past, the Federal grant processes has discouraged effective
treatment organizations from seeking the resources made available by
Congress. This is a national health emergency, and the bureaucracy must
not get in the way of treatment.
Mr. Speaker, this week marks a major step forward. Congress is
directing resources towards programs and policies that have been
effective, and will continue to evaluate what is working and what is
not. By working together and getting the right tools to local experts,
we can beat this demon of addiction.
Mr. GUINTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for his
work on the Opioid Abuse Reduction Act, I thank him for his work on the
task force and continuing the fight in this epidemic.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney
Davis).
Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Mr.
Guinta, Ms. Kuster, and the previous Special Order leader, Ms. Clark.
This is tremendously a great turnout for such an important subject, and
for you three to lead it. Especially my good friend, Mr. Guinta, I want
to say thank you on behalf of the many families who have been affected
by this epidemic in Central Illinois where I am blessed to serve. I
think this shows how serious Congress is about addressing the issue of
opioids and addiction in our country, and I am happy the House is going
to consider important pieces of legislation this week.
I want to read a quote from today's Bloomington, Illinois,
Pantagraph. It says: ``The profile of a typical heroin user shooting up
in an alley or backstage at a rock concert no longer holds true.''
According to the CDC, there were more than 1,700 drug overdose deaths
in my home State of Illinois in 2014, and the eighth highest in the
Nation.
As of March of this year, the Illinois Department of Public Health
reported that 761 deaths in 2015 were attributed to heroin alone. And
while the majority of these occur in the Chicagoland area, our State's
rural communities, the communities that I serve, have seen a noticeable
rise of heroin-related deaths in recent years.
As a matter of fact, just yesterday in Bloomington, Illinois, the
towns of Bloomington, Normal, McLean County, I was there. There have
been seven deaths last year attributed in that one county to heroin
use.
I had the opportunity to join McLean County Sheriff Jon Sandage and
County Coroner Kathy Davis and talk about what they see firsthand.
Mr. Speaker, I saw for the first time in my life what heroin looked
like in the evidence locker at the McLean County Sheriff's Office just
yesterday. I also had the opportunity to ride along with McLean County
Sheriff's Deputy Jonathan Albee, a handler in the department's K-9
Unit, and his dog, Keej, who liked to bark at me a lot while I was in
that car.
We discussed the recent rise in heroin overdoses, as well as the 70
percent increase in arrests for controlled substance possession that
the McLean County Sheriff's Office says they have seen in the last
year. And during that ride-along, I got to experience a stop where
drugs were found, but not heroin.
This is the community where my daughter just finished her freshman
year in college. I have seen how this epidemic cannot just touch larger
communities, many urban communities like Bloomington, Normal, and
McLean County, it touches my home county of Christian County, too.
Mr. Speaker, just a few years ago our county health department
director was arrested for heroin use and heroin possession. If it can
happen to our own county health department director, it can happen to
anyone, regardless of your socioeconomic status.
Mr. Speaker, there are many factors that have made this epidemic
widespread, from prescription practices, to the actions of cartels
south of the border; and that is why we are addressing this important
issue this week in the House of Representatives.
I am proud to join with my colleague, Mr. Guinta. I want to thank him
and the rest of the colleagues who have come here tonight to support
this important issue.
I can't wait to vote in a bipartisan way for every single bill we are
going to take up this week to address this very important issue.
Mr. GUINTA. I thank the gentleman from Illinois for his being here
this evening, his leadership. He has talked very eloquently over the
last several months about constituents of his that he is working so
closely to help in creating an opportunity for recovery. So I thank the
gentleman and thank him for being here.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from West Chester, Pennsylvania
(Mr. Costello).
Mr. COSTELLO of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, Kevin Steele, who is the
district attorney in Montgomery County, one of the four counties that I
represent a portion of in southeastern Pennsylvania, noted earlier this
week that there were 2,500 drug overdose deaths in Pennsylvania over
the past year, 60 alone in Montgomery County.
This is what he said: ``We're seeing numbers we haven't seen before.
We're on pace to have the deadliest year for overdoses.''
Now, not all of them are heroin, but quite a good number of them are.
I did not plan on coming down here to the House floor and speaking
about any particular individual who I know, and I won't name names; but
I will say this, and this is a bit of a surreal moment for me.
Between the time that I left my office and I came to the House floor,
my brother texted me to let me know that someone that he went to high
school with, who he was goods friends with, who played in my backyard
growing up, had passed away.
I then reached out to my other friend, who let me know that it was
indeed, by all accounts, heroin. And in speaking with this friend, he
shared with me the names of a few other individuals from my high school
that I was completely unaware of who have passed away in the past 6
months, kids I haven't seen or heard from in 15 or 20 years, but
nevertheless, it strikes very close to home for me and I am sure a lot
of Members here tonight who have had firsthand experience with the
epidemic.
As a member of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin
Epidemic, I do want to thank Mr. Guinta and his leadership. We have an
opportunity this week to take constructive steps to combat the heroin
and opioid epidemic that damages our communities and destroys families,
and we have that opportunity by bringing a series of commonsense,
bipartisan bills to the House floor for consideration.
Now, it is a package of bills. I won't get into the specifics of each
one. I would rather paint with a little bit more of a broad brush here
this evening and simply say that these legislative efforts to take
constructive steps to get direct and immediate resources to those on
the front line in this battle, our first responders, our physicians,
and healthcare providers, our local and municipal officials, is a
tremendous step forward in the right direction.
I served as a county commissioner, and I can tell you, I know the
challenges that our local emergency responders and law enforcement
professionals face each and every day.
Indeed, last week I was in Berks County, one of the four counties I
represent, and had a roundtable with the county commissioners there,
the district attorney, the director of the emergency department at the
local hospital, and also drug treatment professionals.
It is very clear that we need a multilateral approach between drug
treatment professionals, medical professionals, local officials. They
each play a different role, but the theme is somewhat the same.
We have outdated regulations, we have insufficient resources, and we
need to better align the resources that we are providing. And that is
what we are going to do this week in the House, positive productive
steps on a bipartisan basis to get those on the front lines in our
communities, the resources they need. In doing so, we will better
[[Page H2207]]
empower our local first responders, our local law enforcement, and our
community healthcare providers.
I would be remiss if I didn't also speak about the issue of
prevention, prevention in the first instance. Abuse-deterrent
medications are critical. Our life sciences industry in my district and
across this country are making tremendous strides. It is a key
component in preventing addiction for many in the first instance.
Let me conclude, though, with this, Mr. Speaker. As legislators, as
lawmakers, we can't end this epidemic. A law, any number of laws that
simply pass the House that may get signed into law are not going to end
an epidemic. We understand that--and I want the American people to
understand tonight--we are not saying that by passing laws, we end the
epidemic.
But what we can do is improve collaboration and better align
resources from and for the various stakeholders so that together we can
turn the trajectory of this epidemic, which is on a very dangerous
course, we can turn it into a declining direction, which is what we
need to do. We need to turn this around.
We have a tremendous opportunity here in the House this week to take
very positive steps in that direction, and I want to thank Mr. Guinta
for his leadership on this issue.
Mr. GUINTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Costello) for being here this evening and for his leadership in
authoring the Prevent Drug Addiction Act of 2016, another mechanism by
which we can provide opportunity to those who suffer from the ailment
of addiction. His work is very well-regarded on the bipartisan task
force and, again, I thank him for his leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to another honorable gentleman from the great
State of Pennsylvania (Mr. Meehan), my good friend.
Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Hampshire and
all of my colleagues who have taken this approach to comprehensive
discussion on what we can do with legislation to deal with the issue of
not just heroin abuse, but the opioids that are now a precursor.
I would suggest that just about everybody who has come to this floor
comes with a personal story. Mine is very personal as well.
The name of the act that I am sponsoring that is part of this
comprehensive package is the John Thomas Decker Act.
John was an athlete of great talent. He was one of the record holders
for more than a decade as a receiver who went on to Cornell as part of
a program in which he was a lacrosse player, a program that won a
national championship during his time there.
But John, like so many student athletes, suffered from a knee injury
that impacted his ability to play, and like so many, he played through
the pain. And one of the things that he used in order to deal with that
pain was opioids, opioids that in the beginning were prescribed, and
then subsequently were used by him without a prescription.
But that should not surprise you, because one of the things that we
look at with respect to college athletes is that 23 percent of college
athletes, according to one NCAA study, have been prescribed pain
medications during the course of the year. Another 6 percent, on top of
that, self-prescribe with opioids.
So as a result, we have almost 1 in 4--more than 1 in 4 dealing with
opioids. The problem being that that leads, oftentimes, to an
addiction. There is a misunderstanding, a belief among many that it is
a much safer drug because it has been prescribed, but not a recognition
that it can lead, in weeks and even days with daily use, to a
psychological dependency, which can lead toward the addiction.
Many people think that because they have been able to get it under
control, they will return to it at some time later at a dosage that
they used before, and because of the concentration being higher, they
will return, and oftentimes it can lead, as it did in John Thomas
Decker's situation, to an overdose.
The John Tomas Decker Act is designed to enable, at the high school
level, the Centers for Disease Control to reach out, study the impact
of opioid use among high school athletes and better arm those who
engage with them to monitor the use of those who have been prescribed
it, to screen for history of current drug use, depression, other kinds
of things that can lead to addiction, and begin to educate not just
those student athletes, but those who are in charge of those student
athletes about the great concern of opioid abuse, which can lead to
heroin addiction and, ultimately, death.
{time} 2045
I'm grateful for the leadership of my colleague from New Hampshire
and her counterpart across the aisle for their work in this important
area. I urge my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to support the
John Thomas Decker Act, and I know that all of us will be committed to
doing everything we can to stay ahead of this very, very challenging
issue for our Nation.
Mr. GUINTA. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meehan) for
his leadership on the John Thomas Decker Act and his work in fighting
this addiction as well.
Again, I thank the gentleman very much.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr.
Jenkins).
Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, the United States is in
the middle of a drug crisis that is ravaging urban and rural
communities alike. We have seen the overdose rates skyrocket in the
United States in recent years. My home State of West Virginia sits atop
the list, and I have seen firsthand the destruction that the disease of
addiction has brought to our cities and towns.
But imagine for a moment actually starting your life in the throes of
withdrawal. This is the tragic reality for thousands of newborns
nationwide. During pregnancy, a baby is exposed to any drugs the mother
takes. As soon as they are born, their bodies begin going through
withdrawal from heroin, opioids, and other drugs. Not even babies are
immune from the effects of this drug epidemic.
Until you see these babies going through withdrawal yourself, you
cannot imagine their suffering. Their bodies shake with tremors. Their
cries are heartbreaking. They are sensitive to noise, to light, and
even to touch. No baby should have to go through withdrawal in their
first hours, in their first days or weeks of his or her life.
We in the House are working together on this critical issue. We are
passing much-needed legislation to create a path to recovery and a path
to a healthy start in life for every child.
I am honored to have legislation included in this package of bills
this week. The Nurturing and Supporting Healthy Babies Act will expand
our knowledge of coverage and care for newborns with neonatal
abstinence syndrome, or NAS, babies suffering from withdrawal after
birth from the exposure during pregnancy.
The dramatic increase of NAS, the challenges to developing new models
of care, and breaking down regulatory barriers are things I know all
too well. I helped start Lily's Place in my hometown of Huntington,
West Virginia, which treats NAS newborns in a stand-alone facility. The
care given is complementary to the traditional hospital setting. Lily's
Place offers clinical care by doctors and nurses, as well as social
workers for families.
Hearing the cries of these newborns will forever change you. We owe
it to each and every child to make sure they have a chance to start
their lives healthy and happy.
I wish to thank Congressman Guinta and Congresswoman Kuster for their
leadership on the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic.
By working together, we can find solutions and build a brighter future.
Mr. GUINTA. I want to thank the gentleman from West Virginia for his
leadership on the Nurturing and Supporting Healthy Babies Act. I look
forward to voting this week in favor of the gentleman's legislation,
and I appreciate the gentleman's compassion and passion for the issue.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia, Congressman
Carter.
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for holding
this Special Order to discuss such an important issue.
Mr. Speaker, as a lifelong pharmacist, I have experienced firsthand
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the struggles that medical professionals and Americans face with
prescription drug abuse. Many don't realize, but medical professionals
are not immune to prescription drug abuse. I have had several
colleagues in the pharmacy profession who have struggled with
prescription drug abuse.
In addition, I was the cosponsor in the Georgia General Assembly when
the Georgia Prescription Drug Monitoring Program was created. I believe
that PDMPs are one of the most important tools in the fight against
prescription drug abuse. As a pharmacist, I experienced several
customers who would walk into my store with an out-of-State driver's
license. As you can imagine, I was a little hesitant to fill a
prescription of someone who has a Kentucky driver's license when my
store is in south Georgia.
I believe the best way to address this issue is to work as a team.
Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and anyone else who is part of an
individual's medical team has a role to play. We must work together if
we want to win against this powerful epidemic.
In addition, community leaders, community service centers, and any
other entity that is involved in community health has a role to play.
We must all work together as a community to help people who are
struggling with addiction.
I encourage all of my colleagues to get involved in this issue. It is
one that will destroy your communities and its families from the inside
out, and you won't know you have a problem until it is almost too big
to fight.
Again, I want to thank the gentleman from New Hampshire for holding
this Special Order. I hope we can continue to work together on this
issue because this work will never be done.
Mr. GUINTA. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia
for his leadership, and particularly for his expertise in the area of
pharmacology. It is a critical component of understanding that we need
to achieve based on the opioid crisis. I appreciate the gentleman's
leadership and his ability to work with the Congress to make sure that
we are finding and striving for solutions beyond opioids for
prescriptions for pain in the country.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California, Congressman
Knight.
Mr. KNIGHT. I want to thank Congresswoman Kuster and Congressman
Guinta for taking a leadership role in this epidemic. This is something
that has gone across the country. We have seen huge rises in the
Northeast and across the Midwest, but this is something that is not
immune from any one of our districts.
I, along with Representatives Esty and Costello, are sponsoring
legislation to establish education programs for both consumer awareness
and practitioner training to get at the root of most of these
addictions.
As a police officer for 18 years with the LAPD, I have seen an awful
lot of drug addiction and drug addiction problems in our streets. We
saw rock hit our streets many, many years ago, and that is still
infiltrating many of our urban areas in America. Then we moved on to
other drugs like meth and heroin.
Heroin was always one of those kind of taboo drugs, but today it is
not. We have seen a lot of the kids that get addicted because they got
a sports injury or they got some other issue and have gotten a
prescription drug, and they have moved on from the oxys when they have
run out of these opioids and they have moved on to heroin.
So it has not become a taboo drug. It has actually been a new drug
that they can continue on their addiction; and they don't understand
what it is doing to their body, and they don't understand the
addictions that are hurting them and, in some instances, killing them.
We have seen heroin and fentanyl taking over our streets and not just
moving from California to Maine, but absolutely taking over America and
hurting our kids and killing our kids in record numbers.
My wife is also an NICU nurse. She has been an NICU nurse for about
20 years, and she has seen the effects of little babies that have come
in and are now addicted to these drugs, and they are addicted to
heroin. Seeing what this does to a baby that is born premature and now
addicted to this drug makes your heart go out, but you also understand
the problems that these babies are going to have probably for a very
long time in their young lives.
If we don't do something, this will continue to ravage our kids, and
it will continue to kill our kids on our streets. If Congressman Guinta
and Congresswoman Kuster had not brought this forward, then somebody
would have had to. But who? So I say I thank you to them both for doing
this. I know it ravages your State of New Hampshire, but it also
affects our States and our cities across the country. Without
leadership, this would have continued to go on.
These bills that we are voting on will do something. They will have
an effect. The local administrations have to have an effect. Our
counties and our States have to have an effect or this will continue
on.
So I say I thank you to the gentlewoman and the gentleman, and I
encourage everyone to vote on these.
Mr. GUINTA. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from
California (Mr. Knight) for his service on the task force, his service
for the last 18 years in uniform, and the gentleman's continued service
here in the Congress. The gentleman's depth and understanding of the
issue is critical to the passage of the legislation that we are
bringing to the floor this week. I look forward to continuing our work
with the gentleman, and I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentlewoman from our great State of
New Hampshire (Ms. Kuster), my esteemed colleague, who is the co-
chairman of the bipartisan task force.
Ms. KUSTER. I thank the gentleman, Mr. Guinta, for his leadership and
to everyone who participated tonight.
The idea behind a Special Order to put a face on this terrible heroin
epidemic and addiction, generally, is to create compassion and empathy
both among our colleagues and for those of you who may be watching at
home. We need a societal change in the way we approach substance use
disorder. We need to understand that this is a disease. I say at home,
frequently, every time you hear the word ``addict,'' think of the word
``diabetic.'' We don't say to someone: We can't treat you because you
have just eaten cake. Essentially, we say: That is a really hard
disease for you to live with, and we want to help you.
That is the message that we want to convey tonight to families in New
Hampshire and all across this country. We want to be a part of the
solution, and that is going to include prevention, education,
treatment, access to treatment, expanding access to treatment, and then
lifelong recovery.
We know that the brain changes under the misuse of prescription drugs
or opiates or heroin, and we need to have the patience to help people
get through not just the treatment itself, but the recovery period. We
need homes where people can live in a substance-free environment, and
we need supports and mental health supports. We have learned that four
out of five heroin users have a co-occurring mental health issue
typically untreated and typically not getting any kind of help with
that. So in a sense, what you have are people that are self-medicating.
We also know that four out of five heroin users are coming to this
through prescription medication, so we need to reach out and work with
our healthcare providers. I am very proud that both the American
Medical Association and the American Hospital Association are
supporting many of the bills that we have coming forward on the floor
this week.
So this is the beginning. Our work is not done, but the message
tonight is that Congress is coming together in a bipartisan way to
tackle this head-on, to help these families, to help people get
treatment, and to put an end to this terrible, terrible disease.
I thank the gentleman from New Hampshire.
Mr. GUINTA. I want to thank the gentlewoman, my colleague from our
State of New Hampshire, where, unfortunately, last year, 430 people
perished due to opioid abuse and addiction. That is 1 out of every
3,000 of our residents. It is a significant challenge in our State, in
the Northeast, and New England, but all across the country. Almost
50,000 people, last year, died of this epidemic.
[[Page H2209]]
It is not just an epidemic, but an emergency, one that I believe this
Congress is firmly standing strong in a bipartisan way to find
solutions, to do our part at the Federal level to make sure that we
have every opportunity not just to help those who seek treatment and
recovery, but also to strengthen law enforcement, to focus on those
individuals who are selling these drugs across the country, from
California to New Hampshire, but also being proactive in prevention and
in education.
We often speak of our friends and constituents in New Hampshire that
continue to suffer, but we also talk about our children. I have a 12-
year-old and an 11-year-old that I hope will live lives without and
free from drugs. I want to make sure that every seventh- and eighth-
grader in the State of New Hampshire understands the severity of the
problem and understands that this is something that is deadly that we
cannot even take once.
As you mentioned, the challenge of fentanyl, lacing a pill of heroin
with as many as three small pieces of fentanyl the size of grains of
sand can kill a person. Most people don't realize that. This is a
deadly, deadly epidemic.
{time} 2100
This week the House of Representatives takes up a whole host of
bills. After the Senate passed their CARA Act 94-1, we have had four
committees of jurisdiction work and try to improve that piece of
legislation.
I look forward to sharing a very strong bipartisan vote this week on
a whole host of bills, going to conference with the Senate, and getting
this bill to the President's desk. It is a mark of bipartisanship and
it is a mark of leadership, something that the country needs to see
from this institution and from this city.
I want to thank all of my colleagues who participated in this Special
Order tonight to kick off Heroin and Opioid Awareness Week. We have
heard stories of success and difficulty come in equal measure from
every corner of the country.
I commend the House for passing a comprehensive bipartisan bill for
the relief of the vulnerable, the victimized, and distressed in my
district, in your district, and throughout the Nation. Any measure we
take to lighten even slightly the burden of suffering patients and
families can make the difference between fatal despair and renewal.
The House is scheduled to take up several similar measures this week.
It is my hope that, when combined, our efforts will begin to form a
solution to this harrowing and tragic national crisis. We will continue
to work for safe communities and effective evidence-based treatments.
But I want to end this evening on a favorable note. I want to share
the story of my friend, Abi Lizotte, who the gentlewoman from New
Hampshire, Congresswoman Kuster, knows all too well.
Abi Lizotte last year had been addicted to heroin for an extended
period of time and had nowhere left to turn. Her family wouldn't help
her. Her friends wouldn't help her. Even the people she bought drugs
from wouldn't help her.
She was 8 months pregnant. She finally called a nurse, a nurse that
had helped her earlier in the year, and asked for assistance. She went
to the hospital and thankfully was able to see a physician. That
physician told her that she was days away from dying while she was
carrying her child.
Thankfully, through the grace of God and the help of people in New
Hampshire, she was able to start the process of recovery. Today my
friend Abi--and I am proud to call her my friend--has testified in
front of our committee hearings in New Hampshire, has testified about
the experience that she had and the loneliness and despair that she
experienced. She is now 6 months clean with an 8-month-old son named
Parker. It is a story of success.
She continues each and every day to strive for that success for
others. She actually goes to schools in New Hampshire and speaks to
kids about her experience in the hope that other people will not fall
to the same experience she had over the last several years.
I count her as a friend, but I focus our work in her name, just as
you focus your work in the name of Kriss Soterian's stepdaughter,
Amber, because these are people we know. These are people that we don't
just represent. They are people that we want to try to save.
I am very, very happy to see our leadership, the bipartisanship this
week in the legislation that will come to this floor, and I pray that
next year we don't see the same number of deaths, that we start to see
a decline.
But, regardless, this is just the beginning of this process where we
will continue to fight for every life, to fight for every person who is
dealing with the disease of addiction, and will continue to work in a
bipartisan way because people of our Nation deserve it.
I want to thank my colleague again, Ann Kuster from New Hampshire, my
co-chair of the bipartisan task force, for her leadership. I thank the
speakers this evening. I look forward to a productive week and a
productive year.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________