Mike Capuano: “I rise to first of all thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) for being so dogged on this issue. As we have heard…”

“I rise to first of all thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) for being so dogged on this issue. As we have heard already, this is a relatively simple item. We have people who need treatment. I thought we were here to try to help people seek treatment and to provide it and we have an anomaly in the law that prevents them from getting the treatment that they want and that we want to provide them. This bill fixes that anomaly. It is very simple. I will fully admit that I did not find this on my own. I found this because a doctor in my own district called me, Dr. Schmitt from Mass General Hospital, who works out of the Charlestown Community Health Center. He treats these people. He wants to be able to treat more. Unfortunately, he works in a group practice and is limited to 30. He will be able to help more people in his own community, which will help the community at large. This bill is a modest piece of legislation. It simply allows more people to be treated. It is not a panacea, it is not going to fix our drug problem, but it is going to increase access to these treatments I believe that all Americans want us to do for their sons and daughters who have fallen victim to the terrible sins of drug abuse. Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of this bill. Again, to repeat, I want to thank the gentleman from Indiana for his tenacious push of this bill.”