Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I first want to thank Ranking Members Pallone and Green, as well as Chairmen Upton and Pitts, for working diligently with me to bring this bill to the floor today. This bipartisan bill, the Co-Prescribing to Reduce Overdoses Act, would create a demonstration project to encourage prescribing opioid overdose reversal drugs like naloxone to patients at an elevated risk of overdose, as well as to a close relative of such a patient. Why is this bill needed, Mr. Speaker? More than 100 Americans are dying every single day of preventable drug overdose, and overdose fatality is now the leading cause of accidental death in the Nation. In 2014, in my home State of Maryland, there were 887 opioid-related deaths. In Baltimore, 192 people died from heroin overdoses. In Anne Arundel County in 2014, there were 360 opioid overdoses, fatal and nonfatal; 49 of those were fatal. The problem is getting worse. From 2001 to 2013, there was a fivefold increase in the total number of deaths from heroin. This is an epidemic, but it is an epidemic that we can begin to stem if we take action. Naloxone is a drug that safely and effectively reverses both opioid and heroin-induced overdoses, if administered in time. It has been used by nonmedical personnel with only minimal training for over 15 years, and has been proven to lower overdose mortality by almost 50 percent. More people need access to this lifesaving medication.…”