Political Quotes

“Madam President, I am in strong support of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act and its supplemental funding amendment. I have to say I wish we weren't in this position today. I wish we didn't have a persistent and growing drug epidemic in this country that is ravaging our communities and tearing apart our families. The issue of opioid abuse and heroin addiction is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is an American issue. It touches every corner of our society: wealthy, middle class, and poor; rural, urban, and suburban; moms, dads, children, and grandchildren; our friends and our neighbors. It is devastating that today more Americans are dying from drug overdoses than from car accidents. In looking at the facts, there are two things we can point our finger to: prescription opioid painkillers and heroin. Prescription opioids are increasingly to blame for overdose deaths. These drugs include hydrocodone, oxycodone, and morphine, to name a few. Their numbers are hard to believe--in 2014, 6.5 million Americans over the age of 12 abused controlled substance medications. The second factor, heroin, is even worse in what it has done to our Nation. Heroin use has increased 79 percent nationwide in just 5 years. These two factors are connected. When people are injured and prescribed painkillers, what is given as help for pain can easily become an addiction.…”