The monetary costs and associated collateral impact to society due to Substance Use Disorder, including opioid use disorder, are high.

I know that he and I both care very, very deeply about this very, very pressing problem that is occurring all across the Commonwealth and, in fact, across our country.

We have to look at that as a problem in its own right.

It is important for us to hear the nature of it, but also the duration of it, and we have to figure out ways to support that.

I just hope you use that leverage as a payer. And I know that is a startling number, Medicare through Part D spending $2.7 billion on opioids in 1 year, but that is a lot of leverage.

The number of people who will die from overdose is higher than the number of people who would die from auto accidents.

Senator Toomey outlined that we have a number of legislative proposals.

It seems to me that stopping this epidemic and healing our communities will require at least a three-pronged approach.

I have been to a couple of places in this State over the last couple of months where we are seeing the manifestation of what a lot of advocates and a lot of experts in this room would tell us over and over again: good treatment works, but…

I hope we can work on that so we make it more readily available.

We need to really make sure there are adequate treatment options that are available to people in a timely fashion.

A prescription medication database is a huge asset. We need to know who is getting what.

Senate bill 1410 would increase the block grant funding, the so-called Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant.

The fact is, as Dr. Farah mentioned, more Pennsylvanians will die this year from overdoses and misuse just of heroin and prescription painkillers than from influenza or homicide.

Potency is a better word. The potency of it is much greater.

We need to have a mandatory REMS project, a Risk, Evaluation, and Mitigation Strategy, that is mandatory for physicians to take if they want to prescribe opioids across the class.

I did, but just maybe I will do it by way of a lightening round because I took more than my time last time.

Thank you, Senator Toomey and Senator Casey, for your leadership on this issue.

I hope you can take a look at it, Senate bill 1455, which would lift that cap.

Senator McConnell, the majority leader, and I have a bill, Senate bill 799.

So how do you deal with that price dynamic where, if you are aggressive on opioids and the price goes up, they will turn to heroin?

Over 5 years, 3,000 people in this State have died either by way of opioid problems or heroin.

I appreciate Senator Casey's support of those efforts and his comments regarding that.

This is a problem and a challenge for our country that knows no geographic or political boundaries.

I still worry about the opportunity for criminals to take advantage of that, which is why I so strongly believe that the first step should be the new enrollees and get them their card.