Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I will continue my remarks. We were discussing the forums that the Presiding Officer, Senator Ayotte, Senator Klobuchar, and I organized. Out of that developed a national working group of stakeholders from the public health community, from behavioral health folks, prevention, treatment, recovery, and law enforcement. The forums informed us and the working groups supported us as we worked to draft legislation that would promote effective, evidence-based policies and increase collaboration among what are too often siloed areas of activity and expertise. The bill we developed would do a great number of things. They fall into four major categories: First, it would expand prevention and educational efforts-- particularly aimed at teens, parents, and other caretakers, and elderly folks, aging populations--to prevent the abuse of opioids and heroin and to promote treatment and recovery. Second, it would expand the availability of naloxone to law enforcement agencies and other first responders to help in the reversal of overdoses and save lives. Third, it would expand the resources to identify and treat incarcerated individuals suffering from addiction disorders promptly by collaborating with criminal justice stakeholders and by providing evidence-based treatment.…”