Rob Portman: “I thank my colleague from Ohio, and I am on the floor today to talk about a major public health crisis facing our…”

“I thank my colleague from Ohio, and I am on the floor today to talk about a major public health crisis facing our country, one that is resulting in thousands of people losing their lives, causing the death of over 100,000 Americans a year, and has negatively impacted so many millions more in my home State of Ohio and all around the country. And, no, I am not talking about COVID-19. I am talking about an epidemic within the pandemic. I am talking about the surging epidemic of drug use and addiction that has fueled a record number of overdose deaths and threatens to get even worse. In the past 19 months or so, our attention has, understandably, been directed toward the COVID-19 crisis. And, once again, we see with Omicron the possibility of another variant coming, and those public health challenges are real. But I have to tell you that it has led us to ignore another crisis. The Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, recently issued a report which was shocking and should serve as a wake-up call to all of us. It said that between April of 2020 and April of 2021, the most recent year for which we have data, we had over 100,000 individuals lose their lives to drug overdose deaths in this country. That is the highest ever. It is a record. By the way, 100,000 deaths per year is more than the deaths from gunshot wounds and the deaths from car accidents combined. It is truly the epidemic within the pandemic.…”