[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 28 (Thursday, February 16, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H1257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         OPIOID ABUSE EPIDEMIC

  (Mr. MAST asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because the opioid abuse epidemic 
continues to worsen across this country.
  In Florida alone, heroin and fentanyl deaths have risen by nearly 80 
percent. Local governments in Florida are responding as best they can 
with their limited resources, but they cannot solve the problem alone. 
The 18th District of Florida includes parts of Palm Beach County, where 
my colleague, Lois Frankel, resides, which is one of the hardest hit 
counties in the State. In 2016, the county received more than 4,000 
overdose calls, and there were approximately 500 opioid-related deaths.
  Mr. Speaker, our Nation's veterans are uniquely vulnerable to this 
crisis. We must never forget our responsibility to these brave men and 
women to ensure that, when they leave the battlefield overseas, they 
aren't left to fight their personal battles here at home all alone.
  I commend Congress for passing legislation last year to combat this 
epidemic, but we have to do more. I urge my colleagues to pass the 
bipartisan STOP Act to crack down on illicit opioid shipments into the 
U.S., and I also hope that we can continue to work together in other 
ways to fight this epidemic.
  Only by working together at the Federal, State, and local government 
levels can we defeat this terrible scourge that is creating new 
tragedies daily.

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