Political Quotes

“Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Today the United States is in the throes of an epidemic of prescription opioid and heroin abuse. Every Member of this body has heard a tragic story about a constituent who has become addicted to opioids, and, tragically, many have lost their lives to the addiction. The statistics are shocking. In 2014, 47,055 Americans died from a drug overdose. Of those deaths, 18,893 were attributable to prescription pain relievers and 10,574 were related to heroin. The number of opioids prescribed nearly tripled from 1991 to 2013. Though the United States has 5 percent of the world's population, Americans consume 80 percent of the global opioid supply. More than half of chronic prescription drug abusers obtain those pills from prescriptions written for them or for friends or family members. In 2014, nearly half a million teenagers used prescription painkillers for nonmedical purposes. My home State of Virginia is not immune to the ravages of opioid addiction. In 1999, approximately 23 people died from abuse of fentanyl, hydrocodone, methadone, and oxycodone, the leading prescription opioids abused. By 2013, that number jumped to 386 prescription opioid deaths, a staggering increase of 1,578 percent. In 2013 alone, deaths attributed to fentanyl use increased by more than 100 percent. Data also shows a sharp rise in heroin deaths in Virginia. In 2010, 49 deaths were attributed to heroin use.…”