Political Quotes

“I am on the floor to talk about an epidemic that has gripped my State of Ohio and affected every single State in this body in every community we represent; that is, the issue of prescription drug, heroin, and now fentanyl and other synthetic heroin addiction. This epidemic is affecting our communities in fundamental ways. It is breaking families apart. It is causing crime. In fact, in my home State of Ohio, as I talk to law enforcement officials in every county, they tell me it is the top reason for crime and the growth of crime. It is affecting our first responders. When I go to a firehouse now and talk to firefighters about what they do with most of their time, they tell me they do a lot more heroin runs than fire runs, and thank God because they are out there saving lives every single day. They now carry Narcan with them, which is a form of naloxone, which is a miracle drug that reduces the dangers because it reverses the effects of an overdose. They have provided Narcan 19,000 times in the last year in Ohio. This is something that is out there in all of our communities. Sometimes there is a huge spike in these overdoses. Sadly, we had that this week in Columbus, OH, when in the space of 24 hours we had 27 overdoses. I have been working with the county coroner's office and with the health department in the city of Columbus to try to help them determine what the cause of this spike in overdoses was.…”