Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the discussion today is about the opioid crisis, one of the most serious public health crises I have seen in my adult life, certainly in the State of Maine. It is an enormous problem across the country, particularly in rural areas. In my State, we are losing more than one person a day to an overdose death. That is an epidemic by anybody's definition. There are few rays of hope in this rather bleak picture. The numbers continue to get worse. More and more families are being devastated by this crisis, and there aren't many answers being provided. There is, however, one ray of hope this bill we are going to be discussing and voting on this afternoon does provide, and that is, treatment works; recovery is possible. I was at a rally in Portland, ME, just a week ago, with people of all ages from all over the State who were there to publicly say: I am in recovery. It works. Treatment saved my life. I think that is what is so important about continuing the work we have done in this body. The problem is, treatment, particularly in rural areas, is short on infrastructure. It is short on people who can deliver the treatment. We can fund programs and talk about them here, but if you are talking about a rural county--about Milo, ME, in Piscataquis County, you are not talking about a tremendous amount of available infrastructure, but there is available an army of people who can contribute to the solution of this problem.…”