[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 10056-10057]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            FRANKIE'S STORY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. BRENDAN F. BOYLE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 28, 2016

  Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in 
memory of Frankie Prout, a young man from the Port Richmond area of 
Philadelphia described by his devoted mother Jacqueline as happy and 
well-loved by everyone who knew him. I also rise in honor of the 129 
victims of drug overdose deaths each day; 78 of those from opioids.
  In February of 2012, at the tragically young age of 20, Frankie 
succumbed to a heroin overdose in a half-way house, preceded by his 
addiction to Percocet--an addiction that began two years earlier with a 
prescription from the dentist. After repeated attempts to seek 
rehabilitation and attempts to qualify for meaningful treatment, 
Frankie was denied the resources he needed to overcome his addiction.

[[Page 10057]]

  We must remind one another of people like Frankie, and put names and 
faces to the nearly 30,000 people who fall victim to opioid overdose 
each year. But we must also take action to make that tragic number 
zero. We as elected leaders must not abandon any more victims like 
Frankie. And we cannot stand by as mothers like Jacqueline bury their 
children.

                          ____________________