Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for their support in passing S. 3397, the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act by unanimous consent this week. I thank the Senate cosponsors of this bill--Senator Grassley, Senator Brown of Ohio, Senator Gillibrand, Senator Collins, Senator Corker, Senator Feingold, Senator Kohl, Senator Schumer and Senator Durbin. I especially thank my lead cosponsor, Senator Cornyn, and his counsel Gustav Eyler for their significant efforts on behalf of this important legislation. When the Drug Enforcement Administration brought this issue to my attention, I was eager to work on it because this is such a commonsense bill. We know that prescription drug abuse is on the rise and what is even scarier is that it is on the rise among teenagers. In fact, teens abuse prescription drugs more than any illicit drug besides marijuana. And according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 55 percent of teens say that it is easy to get prescription drugs from their parents' medicine cabinets. We also know that up to 17 percent of all prescription drug medication goes unused each year. This bill is an important step towards getting unused, unwanted or expired medication off families' shelves and into the hands of proper authorities. The bill makes it possible for State and local law enforcement ``take-back'' programs to accept controlled substances as well, which is something that is currently very difficult for them to do.…”