[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7918]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           THE OPIOID CRISIS

  (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, our Nation is in the middle of a public 
health crisis. Drug overdoses are now killing more Americans each year 
than car accidents. And 336 Rhode Islanders died last year as a result 
of a drug overdose. That is up from 290 in 2015 and 238 deaths in 2014.
  Nationwide, overdose deaths involving prescription and illicit 
opioids have quadrupled since 1999. This is a crisis that threatens 
Americans of all different backgrounds--young and old, Black and White, 
urban and rural. It is a crisis, plain and simple.
  All of us who serve the government have a responsibility to stop it. 
That is why I was so alarmed earlier this month when I learned that 
President Trump is considering slashing funding for the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy by 95 percent. Slashing funding for the 
lead Federal agency in this fight would have a devastating impact on 
families in Rhode Island and all across our country.
  Let's work together. Let's work across the aisle, Democrats and 
Republicans, to defeat this short-sighted proposal and, instead, 
advance real, comprehensive solutions to this public health epidemic.

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