Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I received a letter not long ago from a constituent, Jim, from Dallas County. The first three words were: I need help. In the letter, he talks about his grandson, Joshua, who is a good kid. Jim became his guardian at age 6, but Joshua took a bad turn at age 16. It was at age 16 he started using opioids. His life has never been the same. Jim writes that at first his grandson started out with pills and then, later, street drugs and ended up on heroin. No surprise here, Mr. Chairman: His usage escalated, and he ended up dropping out of school in the last semester of high school. Along the way, he found a menial job here, a menial job there, but he couldn't hold one down because of the drug usage. Jim tried to help him every way he could. He said that in the summer of 2014 his opioid usage brought him almost to death. I won't say the story has a happy ending, but at least he is now trying to turn his life around. He is off of opioids, and he is on other medications: methadone, Xanax. He has actually gone back and gotten his high school diploma. He has learned how to operate a forklift, but because of the damage that has been done, he can't hold down a job. His drug costs are expensive. He still needs help. Mr. Chair, you know what is unusual about this story? Regrettably, nothing. Nothing is unusual about this story.…”