[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 172 (Thursday, December 1, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6635-S6637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            OPIOID EPIDEMIC

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I rise today on another topic that is 
affecting every single State represented here in this Chamber, and that 
is the opioid epidemic. This is heroin, prescription

[[Page S6636]]

drugs, and increasingly the synthetic heroin coming into our State and 
poisoning the people we represent, leading to a situation where we have 
about 120 people dying every day of overdoses--about 5 a day in my 
State of Ohio. Unfortunately, I have to report today that it is getting 
worse, not better.
  I also believe that Congress is beginning to take the right steps to 
address that, and that is what I want to talk about today. This is the 
28th time I have come to the floor to talk about this issue this year 
because it is one that affects every State, but particularly mine.
  I come from Ohio. It is a State that recently, based on a new report, 
was named as one of the top States in the country for overdoses and, 
unfortunately, the tragedy of overdose deaths.
  For those who die from overdoses, it is a tragedy, of course. But, 
frankly, it is the tip of the iceberg because there are so many people 
whose lives are shattered, whose lives are torn apart, who are not 
going to work and whose communities are facing more and more crime 
because of this issue.
  It was addressed here in this Chamber recently by the legislation I 
want to talk about today, but it is something we must find a way to 
deal with immediately because of the urgency of the problem. To this 
Senator, it is much like other public health crises that we face as a 
country, whether it is a Zika virus or other issues that come up where 
Congress has said that we need to have immediate funding and immediate 
changes in policies to address it. What Congress has done already and 
the President has signed into law as of a couple of months ago is broad 
legislation called CARA, or the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery 
Act, and that legislation is historic in the sense that it is the first 
time in over 20 years that Congress has taken a look at this issue and 
come up with a comprehensive approach. It focuses on education and 
prevention to help people make the right decision and not get into the 
funnel of addiction, particularly focusing on young people. But it also 
focuses on better treatment services and recovery.
  Right now there are people who cannot access treatment, and part of 
the problem is that there is not adequate funding for that treatment. 
Part of the problem is that there is a stigma attached to addiction and 
people aren't willing to come forward. Our legislation, broadly 
speaking, addresses that as well because it says that addiction is a 
disease and ought to be treated as such, which should help to get 
people into treatment.
  For the first time Congress is supporting not just treatment and 
detox but actually getting people into longer term recovery programs. 
Think of housing arrangements or other supportive recovery services 
that we found from our experience in doing the research around the 
country, which are much more successful in terms of helping people to 
turn their lives around and to lead a productive life. What we have 
found in the last 3 years with five conferences here in Washington, DC, 
bringing experts in from all around the country, is that this is 
something that can actually help to turn the tide. It is the first time 
Congress has focused on that. We also focused on the issue of ensuring 
that the law enforcement community and first responders--our 
firefighters and others--have access to this miracle drug called Narcan 
or naloxone, which is able to reverse the effects of an overdose. There 
is a program to allow them to apply to get the Narcan they need to help 
save lives, and it is amazing. It was administered 16,000 times in Ohio 
last year. This year it will be a lot more than that. Those are lives 
that are saved. It is not the ultimate solution. The solution is 
getting people into treatment and the recovery they need, but it is 
necessary right now given the epidemic that we face.

  There are other aspects of the legislation, as well, that help ensure 
that we get the prescription drugs off the shelves, which unfortunately 
are being abused by having more drug take-back programs. We provide 
more resources to ensure that people can get the help they need in 
terms of treatment and recovery.
  I am happy to say that the legislation is beginning to be 
implemented. I would ask the administration again today to expedite 
that implementation. Of the seven larger programs that are part of this 
legislation, I think it is fair to say that two are being implemented 
at this point already, and we need to move forward with others as well. 
I know it takes a while. We need to be sure that the programs are 
properly implemented. But again, there needs to be an urgency about 
this issue.
  Section 303 of the legislation is being implemented now by the 
Department of Health and Human Services, as one example. It expands 
access to medication-assisted treatment by allowing nurse practitioners 
and physician assistants to prescribe medication-assisted treatment to 
help treat an opioid use disorder. This is important. Back in my home 
State, I am hearing a lot from people who are already training people 
to be able to provide this assistance to those who are addicted and 
need to have this medication-assisted treatment using methadone, 
Suboxone or Vivitrol. To allow nurse practitioners and physician 
assistants to participate in this is incredibly important. This is 
progress, but we are pushing the administration to implement the law 
even more quickly.
  CARA also deals with the growing demand for drugs, as I said, by 
improving access to longer term recovery. Recently, I was able to go to 
a recovery house in Canton, OH, called the Phoenix Recovery Home. I was 
able to talk to some of the recovering addicts there, in one case 
several times where it had not been successful, but this longer term 
recovery was working for them. Again, this legislation is so important 
to implement the recovery aspect of it.
  The funding for this has also been a work in progress. We have made 
some progress toward increasing the funding. This year there is a 47-
percent increase in funding for the opioid crisis. In the CARA 
legislation there is an authorization for additional funding in the 
amount of $181 million every single year. That is important. That $181 
million every year going forward is something that will be important in 
this comprehensive approach.
  In the short term, we are working under a short-term spending bill 
right now called the continuing resolution. We were able to get funding 
of $37 million that expires next week. We have to be sure that funding 
continues. That is adequate funding to implement the program now, but 
we need to ensure that we have short-term funding over the next period 
of time, whenever that is--some say it will be from now until March--to 
ensure we keep CARA implemented.
  What I am pleased to report today is that the 21st Century Cures 
legislation, which the House has sent over to the Senate, includes a 
dramatic increase in funding for this issue. It is about $500 million 
per year over the next 2 years of additional funding that will be 
block-granted to the States for prevention and treatment. This is 
incredibly important to my State of Ohio and other States. My 
understanding is that States that have a higher prevalence of overdoses 
will be given priority in terms of these funding dollars. I think that 
is appropriate. It will be helpful to those States hardest hit.
  I wish that some of the parameters of the funding instructions had 
been a little broader to include this issue we talked about earlier 
having to deal with the recovery aspect. But we are working to ensure 
that, as this legislation is implemented, the States have maximum 
flexibility to address this problem.
  This legislation will be bipartisan. I think you will see the vote to 
be very bipartisan next week when we take it up, and in part it is 
because of this legislation. So between CARA and this new legislation 
in the Cures Act, we are going to see additional funding and it is 
urgent that we see it.
  The Kaiser Family Foundation recently released a report based on 
information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that 
found that one in nine heroin deaths in the United States happened in 
our home State of Ohio. We have the most deaths from synthetic opioids, 
such as fentanyl and Carfentanil, that is coming into our communities. 
We are seeing unfortunately an increase not just in Ohio, but in other 
States around the country.
  Every day I hear about this issue from Ohioans. Sometimes when I am 
back home at events that have nothing

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to do with this substance abuse issue, people will come up to me, as 
they will this weekend, and talk about their personal stories.
  Recently, I received a couple of letters. Just before Thanksgiving I 
got a letter from Elaine. She is from Cincinnati, my hometown. She 
wrote that her daughter was lost to a drug overdose in 2013 and her 
grandson from a drug overdose on August 1 of this year. She writes that 
her other son is now an active heroin addict. She went through a story 
about trying to get him into a detox center for treatment but she faced 
barriers. One of the barriers in her case was being able to afford it. 
The insurance initially wouldn't cover it. We tried to help her with 
that, but in the meantime, she is at her wit's end to do something now 
to save her son's life, having lost two other members of her family. 
Again, this legislation we are going to vote on early next week, the 
Cures Act will help with regard to Elaine's inability to find detox and 
treatment for her son.
  Barbara in Columbus has been in touch with my office a lot. She lost 
her son Eric to an overdose in 2012. He was just a week shy of his 24th 
birthday. She writes that Eric wanted to go to rehab. His sister took 
him to every place in Columbus, and no one had room. There was no room 
at the inn. This is another issue we are finding across the country. 
Sometimes these resources are available in larger urban areas, but they 
are frankly oversubscribed given the issue of heroin and prescription 
drug addiction and the growing problem that we have. She writes:

       We need to stop jailing people for drug use. We need to 
     stop people from dying in the streets, and get them into 
     treatment clinics. We need to recognize the difference 
     between drug use and drug abuse. We need focus on creating a 
     society where people do not feel the need to numb the pain of 
     their existence through drug abuse.

  I agree with her, and that is the focus of the legislation, the 
Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I ask for an additional 30 seconds.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, again, I am pleased that Congress has 
made so much progress in this area. I see my colleague from the 
Judiciary Committee is here, Senator Leahy, who helped get this 
legislation through his committee, along with Senator Grassley. It is 
called the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.
  Now we have a chance with the Cures Act to put even more funding 
immediately against this problem. I encourage my colleagues to support 
that legislation. It is good legislation for other reasons, as well, 
but also because of the fact that this epidemic of opioid abuse must be 
addressed.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I appreciate the work of my colleague, and 
I am glad to work with him on this.

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