Political Quotes

“Madam President, eight Americans die of a drug overdose every hour. In 2016, more Americans died from drug overdoses than during the entire Vietnam war. The 2017 figures are even worse. Preliminary estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that over 71,000 individuals lost their lives to drugs. More than 5,000 of those individuals were Californians. Addiction has never had such a profound impact on our country. On October 26, 2017, the Trump administration declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. However, this has done little to stem the tide of overdose deaths or to effect this public health crisis that has a stronghold on our communities. Our government can and must do more. It is not enough to declare the obvious, that this epidemic is an emergency. As with any emergency, triage must begin immediately. That means swiftly executing and implementing whole-of-government strategy to end the devastation. That also means rapidly infusing funds to support this strategy and prevent more deaths. The Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 does just this. It provides a roadmap for action and authorizes the necessary funds to allow the government to better triage care for those in need while simultaneously providing resources necessary to keep these drugs off the street. This legislation recognizes that there is no one size fits all approach when it comes to effectively addressing addiction.…”