Mike Levin: “according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, approximately 1 million people in the United States are…”

“according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, approximately 1 million people in the United States are addicted to heroin; more than 3 million individuals over the age of 12 have used heroin at least once; and an estimated 4.7 million people are dependent on or abusing other opiate drugs, including prescription painkillers according to a 2005 survey of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000, DATA, which I authored along with Senators Hatch and Biden, makes a dramatic change in the way America fights heroin addiction. DATA permits, for the first time, FDA approved drug treatment medications to be prescribed and dispensed in an office-based setting under strict conditions by specially trained physicians. The medication in question is called buprenorphine--bup. It blocks the craving for heroin. This new law essentially brings the treatment of opiate dependence into the mainstream of medicine. It allows both primary care and addiction specialists to treat patients who want to get rid of their addiction, but are unable to because of distance or their unwillingness to seek medical treatment at centralized methadone clinics, where their appearance amounts to an announcement of their addiction. This new law has brought tens of thousands of patients into treatment, who would never have sought treatment in methadone programs. Now in its fourth year, DATA has proved highly beneficial.…”