Political Quotes

“I rise tonight to talk about an issue that is facing every single State represented in this Chamber and every community in America. Over the past week, we have talked about the potential Zika epidemic and the need for us to address that, and I agree, but there is another epidemic that is already here, and that is this issue of prescription drugs and heroin and the addiction that follows. Far too many overdoses are occurring in our communities. There are people who are losing their lives. There are casualties beyond the overdose deaths. There are people who have seen their families broken apart because of the addiction, and because the drug becomes everything, they are unable to go to work. We have seen the devastation in our communities in terms of the crime and violence connected with the drug trade, and we have seen, unfortunately, babies increasingly born with addiction. These babies are in every neonatal unit in America. I know these babies are in every one of the hospitals in my home State of Ohio. There has been a 750- percent increase in the number of these babies in the State of Ohio in the last dozen years. It has gotten to the point where deaths from overdoses from heroin and prescription drugs, opioids, now exceed the deaths from auto accidents. It is the No. 1 cause of accidental deaths in my home State of Ohio. Based on the latest data I have seen, I believe that is now true for our entire country. Ohio has been particularly hard hit.…”