Sheila Jackson Lee: “We need to move swiftly, as this bill may be passed today, in order to avoid expiration, so that we can work…”

“We need to move swiftly, as this bill may be passed today, in order to avoid expiration, so that we can work collectively together for what parents of the addicted and others want: treatment services, wraparound services. We must be able to say that we are not going to take the average guy on the street with a dime or a dollar, trying to survive by selling it and adding that person to the prison population, and not trying to save lives. Let's save lives with treatment. Let's save lives by getting rid of the cartels and the large sellers. But let's not build up our mass incarceration again. Mr. Speaker, this is a very important hearing as we in the Congress continue to deal with the opioid crisis as a nation. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, ``accidental drug overdose is currently the leading cause of death in the United States for those under 50. Drug overdose deaths now exceed those attributable to firearms, car accidents, homicides, or HIV/AIDS. More Americans died from a drug overdose in 2017 alone than died in the entire Vietnam War. Mr. Speaker, I strongly believe that we need to reduce drug overdose deaths by promoting sensible, evidence-based solutions at the federal level. The Houston region also saw an uptick in opioid overdose deaths during the last few years, according to data from the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. There were 149 deaths documented by the office in 2017, up from the 79 recorded in 2015.…”