Political Quotes

On the recordMarch 8, 2016
Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the prescription drug crisis. Every day someone in our Nation dies--a son, daughter, a parent--from a drug overdose. Most overdoses are from prescription drugs, such as opioid painkillers. Too often drugs that were intended to bring comfort end up bringing tragedy. Oxycodone, hydrocodone, OxyContin--we have an epidemic of these prescription drugs and the abuse of them. These drugs wreck lives, wreck families, and wreck entire communities. In my home State of New Mexico, we know this all too well. We have the second highest rate of drug overdose deaths. We are in a crisis, and it is getting worse. More New Mexicans are dying from drug overdoses than ever before. It touches home and it hits hard. One of those we lost was a young man named Cameron Weiss. According to the Albuquerque Journal, Cameron was 18 years old, an athlete, a poet, and then became addicted to painkillers for the treatment of sports injuries. That led, as it often does, to heroin. Within 2 years this promising young man with his whole life ahead of him was dead from a heroin overdose. His mom, Jennifer Weiss, took her grief and put it to work to help others. After Cameron's death, she founded a group called Healing Addiction in Our Community so she could help other young people struggling with addiction. She told the Albuquerque Journal the following: Something tragic has to happen before change happens.…
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Tom Udall
Democratic · New Mexico

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