Ed Markey: “in recognition of Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week, I am here to convey the urgency of responding…”

“in recognition of Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week, I am here to convey the urgency of responding to this crisis. We are coming to the point of no return in this national discussion of opioid addiction. Between 2013 and 2015, the United States saw an increase of more than 8,000 percent in the amount of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Wait; it gets worse. The Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory tells my office that from 2013 to 2015, the number of items seized by law enforcement that tested positive for fentanyl increased by 10,000 percent. We are watching as this category 5 hurricane is making landfall. Unless we do something to stop it, we will watch fentanyl lay waste to community after community all across the United States of America. Fentanyl is the Godzilla of opioids. It is stronger, it is deadly, and it is coming to every family in our country unless we do something now. Between 2013 and 2014, more than 700 deaths in the United States were attributed to fentanyl and its components. That is for the whole country, but according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, as of last month, unintentional opioid overdose deaths in my State since January have skyrocketed. From January to the end of June, there were 488 confirmed cases of fentanyl overdose opioid deaths in my own State alone. There were only 700 deaths in the whole country from fentanyl between 2013 and 2014.…”