[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13430-13432]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         PRESCRIPTION OPIOID AND HEROIN EPIDEMIC AWARENESS WEEK

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, in recognition of Prescription Opioid and 
Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week, I am here to convey the urgency of 
responding to this crisis.
  We are coming to the point of no return in this national discussion 
of opioid addiction. Between 2013 and 2015, the United States saw an 
increase of more than 8,000 percent in the amount of synthetic opioids 
such as fentanyl seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
  Wait; it gets worse. The Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory 
tells my office that from 2013 to 2015, the number of items seized by 
law enforcement that tested positive for fentanyl increased by 10,000 
percent. We are watching as this category 5 hurricane is making 
landfall. Unless we do something to stop it, we will watch fentanyl lay 
waste to community after community all across the United States of 
America. Fentanyl is the Godzilla of opioids. It is stronger, it is 
deadly, and it is coming to every family in our country unless we do 
something now.
  Between 2013 and 2014, more than 700 deaths in the United States were 
attributed to fentanyl and its components. That is for the whole 
country, but according to the Massachusetts Department of Public 
Health, as of last month, unintentional opioid overdose deaths in my 
State since January have skyrocketed. From January to the end of June, 
there were 488 confirmed cases of fentanyl overdose opioid deaths in my 
own State alone. There were only 700 deaths in the whole country from 
fentanyl between 2013 and 2014. Fentanyl has now been confirmed in two-
thirds of all of the overdosed deaths in Massachusetts so far this 
year. It was 57 percent of the deaths last year in 2015 and now it is 
up to 66 percent of the deaths.
  Many drug users overdose on fentanyl because they have no idea it is 
mixed into whatever substance they are injecting or whatever pills they 
are swallowing. They do not realize how deadly it is. It also poses a 
serious threat to the men and women who are first to respond to the 
scene of an overdose. If the powder is absorbed into the skin or 
accidentally inhaled, it can be deadly, making our first responders 
especially vulnerable to the drug's harmful effects. Just last week, 11 
members of a SWAT team fell ill after a bust in Connecticut where they 
encountered deadly fentanyl.
  We know Mexico and China are the primary sources of illicit fentanyl 
and for the chemical building blocks from which it is made and then 
trafficked into the United States. The business model for those who 
manufacture and sell fentanyl is simple: fentanyl is

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cheaper, more potent, and more addictive than heroin.
  We must make stopping the trafficking of fentanyl into the United 
States from Mexico and China one of our highest foreign policy 
priorities. We must elevate it up to what we are trying to put together 
as a plan to fight ISIS. We must put it up there with a plan to ensure 
that we protect our jobs from copyright or trade infringement. We must 
elevate this importation of fentanyl to the very highest level of 
foreign policy concern in our country.
  I was pleased to see reports of recent cooperation between the United 
States and China in combating fentanyl trafficking, including a 
commitment by China to target U.S.-bound exports of substances 
controlled in the United States and an agreement to increase the 
exchange of law enforcement and scientific information that can lead to 
coordinated actions to control substances and chemicals of concern.
  We are improving information sharing on heroin and fentanyl between 
our government and Mexico. Next month, Mexico, Canada, and the United 
States will meet for a North American drug dialogue and focus on 
commitments to develop a North American approach to combatting illicit 
opioids, including fentanyl and its precursor chemicals and analogs, 
but there is so much more we must do. Fentanyl is an overseas invader 
of a different kind, but it is equally deadly. We must continue to 
elevate the fight against fentanyl and make it one of our highest 
national and international priorities.
  I have introduced a Senate resolution calling for cooperation to stop 
the trafficking of illicit fentanyl from overseas. It is a bipartisan 
resolution with the support of Senator Rubio, and I thank my friend 
Senator Shaheen for cosponsoring this legislation as well. Our 
resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that the U.S. Government 
and the Governments of Mexico and China have a shared interest in and 
responsibility for stopping the trafficking of fentanyl into the United 
States, and all three countries should develop joint actions to attain 
that goal.
  I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this resolution and to recognize 
the grave seriousness of the challenge illicit fentanyl poses to our 
country and to make stopping the trafficking of that drug into the 
United States a national priority.
  Let's be clear. Stopping the overprescription of opioid pain 
medication that is fueling addiction to heroin and fentanyl and 
countless overdoses starts with the prescribers. We need to require 
anyone who prescribes opioid pain medication and other controlled 
substances to undergo mandatory training on safe prescribing practices 
and the identification of possible substance use disorders. We need to 
make sure people who enter the judicial system don't arbitrarily have 
their Medicaid coverage terminated, making it more difficult to access 
treatment once they are released and thereby fueling the vicious cycle 
of reincarceration.
  We need to make sure all opioids approved by the Food and Drug 
Administration are first reviewed by independent experts to ensure that 
those drugs are not only safe and effective but also will not continue 
to fuel the epidemic of addiction in this country.
  We need to make sure prescription drug monitoring programs are fully 
utilized and nationally interoperable in order to prevent doctor 
shopping, where one doctor doesn't know another doctor has already 
prescribed a medication or a person moves from one State to another 
State with multiple doctors prescribing the same prescription drugs. 
That must end.
  We must let Big Pharma know their army of lobbyists will be matched 
by an army of advocates who work every day to raise awareness and save 
lives.
  In Boston, there is an area of our city called the Methadone Mile. It 
is approximately 1 square mile. It is the location of methadone 
clinics, safety-net hospitals, and homeless shelters. It is also home 
to those struggling and receiving treatment for addiction and the 
litany of saints and angels who are providing the desperately needed 
services for those suffering from mental health and substance abuse 
disorders. It is a 1 mile, one-stop shop for hope and ground zero in 
the battle against addiction in Boston.
  Here in Washington, we are at the epicenter of the Money Mile. It is 
both an area where Big Pharma's lobbyists toil with the task of 
ensuring that even during this storm of prescription drug, heroin, and 
fentanyl overdose deaths, the deluge of prescriptions for opioid-based 
painkillers goes unabated. According to a story that came out this week 
from the Associated Press and Center for Public Integrity, the 
pharmaceutical industry spent more than $880 million nationwide on 
lobbying and campaign contributions from 2006 through 2015. That is 
more than eight times what even the NRA and the gun lobby recorded for 
activities during that time period. When pitted against the Money Mile, 
the Methadone Mile doesn't stand a chance. The Money Mile and its army 
of Big Pharma lobbyists are the reason mandatory prescriber education 
is not the law. It is the reason the Food and Drug Administration has 
been complicit in many instances in the worsening of this epidemic. 
Without real funding for opioid addiction treatment, the Methadone Mile 
and all the other areas in cities across the country will continue to 
drown in overdoses and deaths. Our cities are fighting a war, and we 
need to help them.
  Throughout Massachusetts, people are growing angrier and angrier by 
the day. They are frustrated by Congress's lack of response to this, 
and frankly so am I. The deaths caused by this epidemic are growing 
exponentially every single year, but the only thing that outpaces those 
deaths are the empty promises of funding made by this Congress. I 
believe history will judge this Congress by how we responded to the 
prescription drug, heroin, and fentanyl epidemic that is devastating 
this country. We have little more than 100 days left in this Congress 
to do the right thing--100 days to show the American people that 
partisan politics will not impede our responsibility to respond to what 
may ultimately become the greatest public health crisis of the 21st 
century in the United States.
  The U.S. Congress has an opportunity to let all those who are 
struggling with addiction know we have heard their stories, help is on 
the way, and we will not forget them. We must let them know that no 
matter how dark life seems right now, there is hope, and sunlight will 
grace them once again. Treatment works, recovery is possible, but this 
Congress must provide the funding for that treatment and recovery. We 
must fund the $1.1 billion the President is asking for the opioid 
crisis in our country. We can no longer turn a blind eye or a deaf ear 
to that request.
  Families all across our country desperately need this help. There is 
a terrorist that is across the streets of every city and town in our 
country, and it is this opioid epidemic. It is a terrorist that is more 
deadly for those families in America than anything that is going on in 
Aleppo. It kills 30,000 people a year, and the numbers are growing on 
the streets of our country. We know what the cause of it is. We know 
more treatment is needed for those who are already affected. It is the 
responsibility of this Congress to provide that funding.
  As we now talk about a continuing resolution, the Republicans still 
refuse to talk about funding for this opioid crisis. If we do not deal 
with this issue, we do not deal with the public health crisis on the 
streets of our country right now.
  I urge every Member, regardless of party, to listen to the families 
of this country, listen to those who are suffering, need help, and are 
looking to us to give them the assistance they need. These family 
members are heroes, but heroes need help. They are turning to us, and 
so far we have not given them the help or the treatment and recovery 
programs they need.
  At this point, I yield back the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cassidy). The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I ask to be recognized to speak in morning 
business.

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  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.

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