[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 59 (Thursday, April 12, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2105-S2106]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Opioid Epidemic

  Mr. President, I rise today to discuss three bipartisan bills that I 
have introduced this week to combat the vast and growing opioid 
epidemic. I want to begin by first thanking the chairman and the 
ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee for their leadership in 
putting together a comprehensive bill to address opioid addiction and 
abuse.
  The HELP Committee has held seven bipartisan hearings on opioid 
issues since October, and I commend the committee's leaders for 
crafting a bipartisan framework, the Opioid Crisis Response Act, which 
the committee intends to mark up later this month. My hope is that the 
three bipartisan bills that I am about to describe will either be 
incorporated into their more comprehensive legislation or approved 
separately.
  Last year, in the State of Maine, 418 people died from overdoses--a 
record number and an 11-percent increase compared to the year before. 
Just this past weekend, there were nine overdoses in one night alone, 
largely as a result of fentanyl-laced heroin. Fortunately, first 
responders were able to save those individuals.
  It is clear that we need to take an ``all of the above'' approach to 
tackling this crisis. This includes more support for education and 
prevention, treatment and recovery services, and law enforcement 
efforts. No single focus will be sufficient to combat this crisis.
  The first bipartisan bill that I have introduced with Senators 
Hassan, Capito, Baldwin, and Warren is the Safe Disposal of Unused 
Medication Act. Our bill would address the problem of unused 
prescription painkillers when a person is receiving hospice care at 
home.
  Currently, hospice staff are not allowed to dispose of unused 
medications, including powerful opioids, even after the patient has 
died. As a result, these dangerous medications, with a high risk of 
diversion, theft, and abuse, are frequently left in the deceased 
person's home.
  I have heard stories about criminals who actually scan the obituary 
pages to figure out when the family will be away at the deceased 
person's funeral so the criminals can target that time to break into 
the family's home to steal these dangerous drugs.
  Our bill would allow certain hospice staff and emergency medical 
services personnel, such as paramedics, to dispose of these potentially 
addictive medications once the patient dies. Registered nurses and 
physicians involved in hospice care can not only help families who are 
dealing with difficult end-of-life issues, but they can also assist 
them by making their homes safer by disposing of dangerous leftover 
medications. All of these drug disposals would be documented in the 
patient's clinical records.
  Our bill would also allow the Drug Enforcement Agency to develop 
regulations permitting hospice staff to dispose of drugs if a patient's 
plan of care has changed and the patient no longer needs the 
medications. The disposal of unused prescription drugs is key to making 
sure that they do not fall into the wrong hands, and this bill would 
help to solve that problem.
  One way that families struggling with addiction are finding support 
is through peer-to-peer recovery groups. The second bipartisan bill, 
which I have introduced with Senator Shaheen, is the Opioid Peer 
Support Networks Act. This bill would foster the creation of peer 
support networks, also known as communities in recovery, and would 
provide them with the resources and training they need to be 
successful. In peer support networks, individuals and families battling 
addiction help one another stay on the road to recovery and assist with 
employment, education, housing, health, and overall well-being.
  Last year, I visited the Bangor Area Recovery Network, known as BARN, 
in Brewer, ME. It is a volunteer-led organization that provides support 
to individuals who are recovering from addiction. BARN is a model for 
peer-led counseling and brings hope, recovery, and healing to those who 
are struggling with substance abuse. Individuals who are themselves in 
recovery can make that critical connection to others who are facing 
addiction, which, in turn, can make the recovery process sustainable 
and reduce the stigma of addiction and treatment.
  Yesterday, the Senate HELP Committee, on which I serve, heard from 
three experts about the legislation that the committee is developing. 
Jessica Nickel, the founder and CEO of the Addiction Policy Forum, told 
us: ``Peer recovery support specialists are a key component to making 
sure that we provide the services that are needed for folks that are in 
recovery or those that need treatment.'' The Opioid Peer Support 
Networks Act would bring critical training and assistance to these on-
the-ground, peer-to-peer networks and help build up these important 
recovery support systems.
  Finally, the Community Action Opioid Response Act, which I have 
introduced with Senator Klobuchar, would provide competitive grants to 
help Community Action Agencies and Community Action Partnerships, known 
as CAPs in my State, expand their efforts to respond to opioid misuse 
and addiction problems that are experienced by low-income individuals 
and their families. Our bill would support a wide range of activities, 
such as treatment and recovery referral, direct services for children 
and their caregivers, including their grandparents, and two-generation 
anti-poverty models that respond to the needs and barriers that are 
facing both parents and children.
  The CAPs are uniquely positioned to help take on and be our partners 
in the opioid crisis. They can leverage their current programs, 
community relationships, and existing infrastructures to respond to the 
unmet needs resulting from the opioid epidemic, but they need more help 
to do so.
  CAPs in my State have told me about how the opioid crisis has 
affected their programs and how they are thinking innovatively to 
improve the services that they provide.
  For example, the Waldo CAP in Belfast, ME, uses its transportation 
services to bring 175 people a week to drug treatment programs. That is 
175 people who otherwise might lack the transportation that is 
necessary for them to receive the treatment services that are needed 
for them to cope with their addictions. Penquis, a CAP agency in 
Bangor, ME, has found that some clients don't access treatment because 
they can't find transportation for their children to safe childcare 
settings. In York County, the Community Action Agency has partnered 
with the Sanford Police Department to deliver access to medication-
assisted treatment for clients who are struggling with opioid 
addiction.
  Our bill would give these CAP agencies additional resources to 
develop the wraparound services that make it possible for treatment to 
succeed and for recovery to take hold.
  Tackling the opioid epidemic, both its causes and its consequences, 
takes a multipronged approach. The three bipartisan bills that I have 
introduced provide additional ways to respond to this growing problem. 
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting them, and I look forward 
to their enactments.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.

[[Page S2106]]

  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                       Honoring Our Armed Forces