Nixon's first instinct was actually to treat opioids as a disease.

Everybody deserves the chance for treatment and recovery.

So, we have it--we're at an inflection point, where we could potentially criminalize this again, or we could potentially treat the opioid crisis as a health issue.

This is how America has gone from criminalizing to treating opioids, and then going back again.

I think that we really have to embrace the saying and the concept that everybody, no matter where they come from, no matter what class, race, ethnicity, address they have, that everybody deserves the chance for treatment and recovery.

So, my question is, how do we move from Nixon's first approach of treating this as a disease to the war on drugs that was unleashed just a few years later, in the 1980's, and waging this war on drugs in communities of color?

This is not the first time we've gone through this pendulum swing. This is how America has gone from criminalizing to treating opioids, and then going back again.

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 50, line 20, after the dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $15,000,000)''. Page 90, line 6, after…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: On page 164, beginning on line 1, strike section 509. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 431…

I think it is important that we acknowledge and really recognize that this amendment is addressing the appropriation--it is an amendment to the appropriation in health and human services. The opioid crisis is here, and there is no denying…

My colleague across the aisle said we need to research this more, and I agree, and that is why this amendment is being introduced. The note was brought up that there is a rider provision saying that there is an exception for those drugs…

Today is a profoundly important day. It is the day that we passed the American Dream and Promise Act. So many have fought for so long to reform America's immigration system, and I commend the activists and grassroots organizers who made…