On the recordJanuary 6, 2016
I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight. As I stepped to the podium, I noticed two of the values that America has etched into or has carved into the Speaker's rostrum, ``liberty'' and then, to my left, ``peace.'' They are two values that we hold dear; yet, they are two values that are lost to people when they come under the cruel, cruel domination of heroin and other opiates. So it is good for us to talk about this tonight but, more importantly, for us to do something about it. I thank Congressman Guinta, Congresswoman Kuster, and my colleagues who are participating in this Special Order, which highlights the ongoing epidemic of heroin and prescription drug abuse. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a member of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic in order to discuss a growing public health crisis in the United States and, more personally, to discuss a crisis occurring in my home district, the Michigan Seventh. You see, we can talk statistics over and over again, but, really, this is all about lives: friends, family, neighbors, people who are highly respected, and people whom we wouldn't know. Yet, they are impacted. The tragic stories of prescription drug abuse and fatal overdoses hit close to home in far too many Michigan communities. Through September of this year, Washtenaw County, the home of the University of Michigan, suffered 41 opioid overdose deaths.…
