Political Quotes

“Every day more than 60 Americans die due to an overdose of prescription drugs. The death rate from heroin overdose, an epidemic fueled by addiction to opioid painkillers, quadrupled from 2002 to 2013. A person suffering from opioid addiction needs access to medication therapy. In many cases, treatment limited to rapid detoxification and abstinence can lead to an overdose during the first month of treatment. Effective medications to treat opioid addiction exist, but Federal regulations restrict the number of patients a physician can treat. This is a dangerous limitation, considering that 877,000 physicians can prescribe opioids, but only 29,000 can prescribe treatments for opioid addiction. Tomorrow, the Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the TREAT Act, legislation I introduced to increase the number of patients to whom a physician can prescribe treatments for opioid addiction. It would also expand the authority to nurse practitioners and physician assistants. I thank the committee for considering my bill and will work across the aisle to bring it to the floor. In the meantime, I urge my colleagues to weigh in with the Department of Health and Human Services to address this problem as well. ____________________”