[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10817]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               TACKLING THE CAUSE OF THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC

  (Ms. GABBARD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, in my home State of Hawaii, 
hospitalizations and emergency room visits from opioid-related 
conditions have more than doubled in the last decade. More people are 
now dying from overdoses than motor vehicle accidents. This opioid 
epidemic is killing 91 Americans all across this country every single 
day.
  For years, companies like Purdue Pharma, the maker of the commonly 
known drug OxyContin, have profited off of the suffering of millions of 
Americans who are dealing and struggling with opioid addiction. Now 
Purdue and others are going overseas, targeting foreign populations, 
using the very same shady marketing tactics, lies, and false 
advertising that helped them get rich at the expense of the American 
people.
  This is absolutely unacceptable. We can't just keep wringing our 
hands about the opioid crisis without actually tackling the cause of 
it. Purdue and those responsible should be prosecuted for the deaths 
and lives that have been ruined as a result of their lies.

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