[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 82 (Thursday, May 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S2918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NATIONAL PREVENTION WEEK

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, the misuse of opioids is a national 
crisis. Every single day, more than 130 people in this country overdose 
on these drugs, with tragic results.
  In 2017, there were more than 70,000 drug overdose-related deaths in 
the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. These 
deaths eclipsed the number that were due to guns or automobile crashes.
  May 12 through 18 is National Prevention Week, which is dedicated to 
increasing public awareness of substance abuse disorders. Addiction 
exists everywhere. We have taken steps in the past to fight this 
epidemic.
  We passed comprehensive substance abuse and treatment legislation in 
2016 and again last year. However, the opioid epidemic continues to 
destroy lives and communities. We need to remain committed to defeat 
this crisis.
  This week also marks the seventh anniversary of my investigation, 
with former Senator Baucus, into opioid manufacturers' connections to 
medical groups and physicians who advocated for the increased use of 
opioids. As senior members of the Senate Finance Committee in 2012, we 
sought documents and financial information from three opioid makers, in 
a period when deaths from opioid overdoses were skyrocketing. News 
reports of that time suggested that opioid makers may have initiated 
conflicts of interest to encourage the prescribing of opioids.
  More recent news reports confirm that we had very good reason to 
launch this oversight work. For example, yesterday, BBC News published 
an article concerning opioid makers' sponsorship, in the early 2000s, 
of so-called educational meetings for pain specialists from the United 
Kingdom. The doctors, whose opioid prescribing rates were being 
monitored by opioid makers, were invited to New York City, where they 
would stay in posh hotels and attend Broadway shows at a drugmaker's 
expense, BBC reported. As reportedly shared by a doctor who attended 
one of these trips: ``I feel very ashamed . . . I was just a guinea pig 
to promote the prescribing of a class of drug.''
  I remain concerned that opioid-related deaths over the last decade 
may have been fueled by misinformation and marketing practices embraced 
by drugmakers and the medical organizations to which they donated.
  What I said 7 years ago remains true today: ``Doctors and patients 
should know if the medical literature and groups that guide [opioids'] 
use are paid for by the drugs' manufacturers and if so, [by] how 
much.'' As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I intend to 
continue my oversight work in this area, including by convening a 
congressional hearing later this summer.
  I also believe that we need to do more to ensure that Americans have 
access to effective recovery treatment options. The recent arrests in 
multiple States of those who operated sham treatment facilities for 
addicts point to a problem. Moreover, we have reason to be concerned 
about the lack of information available to the public about the most 
promising treatment options available.
  A related issue has been the lack of adequate, national standards of 
care in the addiction treatment field. That is why I joined several of 
my colleagues in sponsoring bipartisan legislation that calls for the 
development of new quality measures to improve treatment for Americans 
battling opioid and substance addiction. This measure directs the 
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to work with a coalition of 
healthcare providers to identify quality measures to be used to assess 
the effectiveness of substance use disorder treatment programs.
  In 2016, I also supported the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery 
Act, or CARA. This bipartisan measure was enacted after the Senate 
Judiciary Committee approved it during my tenure as chairman. It 
includes a number of provisions I authored.
  The causes of the opioid epidemic are complicated and its effects are 
widespread. It is impossible to solve this national crisis overnight. 
We must continue our efforts at the local, State, and Federal level to 
break the cycle of addiction.

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