[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 126 (Monday, July 19, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4942-S4944]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            OPIOID EPIDEMIC

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, over the last 16 months, no community 
has been spared from the devastation of COVID-19. The virus itself has 
claimed the lives of more than 600,000 Americans, including more than 
50,000 Texans, and we are still gaining a fuller picture of the far-
reaching consequences of this pandemic.
  We know that the mitigation efforts led to the closure of countless 
small businesses and upended the livelihoods of millions of workers. 
The transition to virtual learning robbed children of valuable time 
alongside their peers in the classroom. And the emotional and financial 
stresses of the pandemic led to devastating consequences for our 
friends and neighbors who were already in a vulnerable situations.
  As families spent more time isolating at home last year, we saw an 
increase in domestic violence. Individuals who were already 
experiencing anxiety and depression faced even greater challenges 
during this difficult period. And those battling substance-use 
disorders faced an even steeper uphill climb. On top of the stress and 
isolation of the pandemic, many lost access to treatment facilities and 
outreach programs.
  No community has been spared from the wrath of the opioid epidemic. 
In 2019, there were more than 70,000 overdose deaths in America, a 
devastating number. Now we have a much clearer picture of how this 
crisis worsened in 2020.
  Last year, more than 93,000 Americans died from drug overdoses. That 
is more than a 30-percent increase over the previous year. It marks the 
largest annual increase in at least three decades.
  Following years of fighting to turn the tide on the opioid epidemic, 
this is a stunning blow and a deep disappointment. Here in the Senate, 
this issue is about as bipartisan as they come. As I said, every State, 
every community has been hit by the scourge of opioids, and every 
person in this Chamber, I believe, wants to turn the tide on this 
crisis.
  In 2016, thanks to the leadership of our friend Senator Portman of 
Ohio, and the hard work of a bipartisan group of Senators, we passed 
what became known as CARA, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery 
Act, to help end this devastating cycle of drug abuse and death. Just a 
couple of years ago, we celebrated some incremental progress. In 2018, 
drug overdoses were down, or deaths from drug overdoses were down 4 
percent from the previous year, the first decrease in nearly three 
decades.
  But, unfortunately, that trend was short-lived. Overdose deaths 
increased in 2019, and they skyrocketed in 2020. Now is the time for 
the Senate to take further action and help the American people fight 
back.

[[Page S4943]]

  Tomorrow, the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control will 
hold a hearing on the Federal Government's response to the drug 
overdose crisis. We will hear from experts, including the acting 
directors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the 
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, as well as 
Dr. Nora Volkow, the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. 
I hope we will learn more about what additional steps we can take to 
reverse this concerning trend, as well as what more needs to be done.
  One of the most effective ways to avoid drug overdose deaths, though, 
is to prevent those drugs from ever reaching our communities in the 
first place.
  And, of course, Customs and Border Protection plays a vital role in 
stopping illicit drugs from entering our country. And it has seen an 
alarming amount of drugs coming across our southern border, as I 
speak--one of the most concerning, of course, being fentanyl, a 
synthetic opioid.
  Depending on your body weight, 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be 
lethal; a kilogram, which is 2.2 pounds, could kill 500,000 people; 2.2 
pounds of fentanyl, something you could put a couple of kilograms in a 
backpack and walk it over to the southwestern border.
  In fiscal year 2021, so far, Customs and Border Protection has seized 
more than 8,500 pounds of fentanyl. For context, that is a 78-percent 
increase over the previous year, and we still have 3 months to go. The 
amount of fentanyl that we have interdicted in the past 9 months is 
just shy of the total weight from fiscal years 2018, 2019, and 2020 
combined. That is a dramatic increase.
  And it has deadly consequences. Nearly three-quarters of fatal 
overdoses last year were attributed to opioids--some synthetic, like 
fentanyl; others like heroin--manufactured primarily in Mexico, 90 
percent of which is imported in the United States comes from Mexico.
  The alarming increase in the supply coming across our southwestern 
border foreshadows even more devastating overdose statistics in the 
months and years to come. And fentanyl isn't the only dangerous drug 
moving across our southern border. Methamphetamine, cocaine, and 
heroin, as I said, are coming into our country at alarming rates.
  If people don't care about the humanitarian crisis at the border that 
has seen a million encounters with Border Patrol the last year alone, 
if they don't care about the fact that we are not stopping illegal 
immigration into the country and what consequences that will have on 
our country for many years to come, hopefully they care a little bit 
about the drug overdose deaths that are caused by the importation--
illegal importation of these drugs across the southern border.
  According to the Drug Enforcement Administration's National Drug 
Threat Assessment, the vast majority of heroin, as I said, comes from 
Mexico--a staggering 92 percent, to be precise.
  As we have discussed the border on the crisis, I have talked about 
the cascading consequences of this migration surge. When Border Patrol 
agents are pulled off the front lines to care for migrant children, as 
many of them are, it creates a huge gap in our border controls and 
creates huge security vulnerabilities. It, of course, makes it more 
difficult for the Border Patrol to do the job that they signed on for, 
which is to interdict dangerous people and substances, including these 
dangerous drugs.
  So until we can get this current humanitarian crisis under control, 
we are making it nearly impossible for the Border Patrol to catch or 
deter the cartels from moving their poison across the border, and we 
are creating even more risk for Americans already struggling with 
addiction and drug abuse.
  Getting the border under control should be a top priority for the 
Biden administration, but they seem completely oblivious to what is 
happening, and they don't really seem to understand the dynamics. We 
know the traditional push factors--poverty and violence in your home 
country--but it takes a lot for people to want to leave their home 
country and take the dangerous trek to the United States.
  But, of course, they are having the coyotes, the human smugglers, 
whisper in their ears and say: For $5,000 or for $7,000, we will get 
you to America.
  But it is also the pull factors. It is the perception that if you 
come to the border, that you will successfully make your way into the 
interior and you will be allowed to stay. Of course, that is not what 
our laws call for, but that is exactly what these smugglers, the 
coyotes, are planning on and what is attracting, like a huge magnet, 
hundreds of thousands, even a million people this year alone, across 
our southern border. And it is the same chaos and confusion caused by 
this flooding of the border and the diversion of law enforcement that 
is allowing these drugs to come across the border, which, as I said, 
have killed 93,000 Americans in the last year alone.
  In addition to stopping these drugs from making their way into our 
country, we also need to identify more effective ways to break the 
cycle of addiction, and that is especially true for those individuals 
who have been incarcerated. It is difficult to know the exact numbers, 
but research shows that an estimated 65 percent of the U.S. prison 
population has an active substance use disorder. Without access to 
treatment while incarcerated, these men and women face a steep, maybe 
an impossible, uphill climb after they are released. In order to give 
an incarcerated individual the strongest possible opportunity after 
serving their time in our criminal justice system, we need to invest 
more in effective treatment options once they leave prison.

  The good news is there is already a bipartisan bill out there that 
does exactly that. Earlier this year, Senator Whitehouse--the Senator 
from Rhode Island--and I introduced the Residential Substance Use 
Disorder Treatment Act to help incarcerated individuals break this 
cycle of addiction.
  Now, we know we are not going to be able to save everybody, but for 
those who are willing to put in the hard work and effort and to seek 
the counseling and treatment that is necessary, we believe we can save 
some lives. This legislation updates the residential substance abuse 
treatment program and expands access to treatment in jails and prisons 
across the country. The program, as it currently exists, already 
provides incarcerated individuals with access to treatment for 
substance use disorders. That treatment is coupled with programs to 
prepare these men and women for reentry into civil society and provide 
community-based treatment once they are released.
  Because of these men and women who have struggled hard while they 
have been in prison and in jail to overcome their addiction, many are 
returning to the same conditions and the same friends and the company 
and communities that they came from. Without this kind of help, we know 
what the results are likely to be.
  Our legislation opens up even more opportunities for successful 
rehabilitation and continued recovery. It provides providers with more 
options to treat substance use disorders. It requires program staff to 
be trained in the science of addiction, evidence-based therapies and 
strategies for continuity of care, and it ensures programs are 
affiliated with providers who can continue treatment after 
incarceration. In short, these changes will give the formerly 
incarcerated men and women the best possible shot at living healthier, 
longer, and more productive lives.
  I am sure it is no surprise that this kind of legislation has strong 
bipartisan support, both here in the Senate and among the various 
organizations that work in this field. Twenty-seven groups wrote a 
letter to Senator Whitehouse and me endorsing this legislation. This 
includes a broad range of criminal justice and behavioral groups, such 
as the Addiction Policy Forum, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 
and the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America.
  I haven't heard from a single Senator, Republican or Democrat, who 
has expressed oppositions or even concern about the bill. This is an 
example of the bipartisan, commonsense actions that we need to be 
taking more often and, in this case, to address a very serious and 
clearly growing problem. These commonsense policy changes can help 
people struggling with drug abuse to finally escape the cycle and build 
a better life when they return to their communities.
  I hope that the Senate will soon pass this bill and move it one step 
closer to President Biden's desk. The dramatic

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spike in drug overdose deaths last year should serve as a call to 
action for all of us. To secure our border, to help those struggling to 
overcome addiction, the tools and the training to do so, there is an 
urgent action that we can take and should take to address both.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.

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