[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 43 (Monday, March 12, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S1632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Grassley, and Mrs. 
        Feinstein):
  S. 2535. A bill to amend the Controlled Substances Act to strengthen 
Drug Enforcement Administration discretion in setting opioid quotas; to 
the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2535

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Opioid Quota Reform Act''.

     SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEA OPIOID QUOTAS.

       Section 306 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 
     826) is amended--
       (1) in the last sentence of subsection (a), by striking `` 
     and not in terms of individual pharmaceutical dosage forms 
     prepared from or containing such a controlled substance''; 
     and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(i)(1) In fixing and adjusting production and 
     manufacturing quotas under this section for fentanyl, 
     oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone, and hydromorphone, the 
     Attorney General shall consider the impact of the production 
     and manufacturing quotas on overall public health and rates 
     of diversion, abuse, and overdose deaths related to these 
     controlled substances in the United States. Any of the 
     considerations in this subsection or in subsection (a) may be 
     used to determine changes to levels of such production and 
     manufacturing quotas in a given year.
       ``(2)(A) For any year in which the approved production 
     quota for fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone, or 
     hydromorphone is higher than the approved production quota 
     for the substance in the previous year, the Attorney General 
     shall include in its final order an explanation of why the 
     public health benefits of increasing such quota outweigh the 
     consequences of having an increased volume of such substance 
     available for sale, and potential diversion, in the United 
     States.
       ``(B) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
     this subsection and every year thereafter, the Attorney 
     General shall provide to the Caucus on International 
     Narcotics Control, Committee on the Judiciary, Committee on 
     Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Committee on 
     Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on the 
     Judiciary, Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Committee on 
     Appropriations of the House of Representatives, the following 
     information with regard to each of the substances described 
     in subparagraph (A):
       ``(i) An anonymized count of the total number of 
     manufacturers issued individual manufacturing quotas that 
     year for that substance.
       ``(ii) A count of how many such manufacturers were issued 
     an approved manufacturing quota that was higher than the 
     quota issued to that manufacturer for that substance in the 
     previous year.
       ``(3) Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 
     of this subsection, the Attorney General shall submit to 
     Congress a report on how the Attorney General will ensure 
     that the annual process of fixing and adjusting production 
     and manufacturing quotas under this section takes into 
     consideration--
       ``(A) efforts to reduce the costs, injuries, and deaths 
     associated with the diversion and abuse of prescription 
     opioids and heroin, including changes in the accepted medical 
     use of certain controlled substances; and
       ``(B) data collection and evaluation of the volume of 
     controlled substances that are diverted and collected from 
     approved drug collection receptacles, mail-back programs, and 
     take-back events.''.
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