Political Quotes

“I first want to commend the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) for his support of this underlying bill and for his sincere desire to improve the bill. While I appreciate that desire to ensure that opioids are secured appropriately in medical facilities, that is the responsibility of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and there are already rigorous standards in place to ensure this. So I must oppose the amendment as being duplicative and causing waste of resources and diverting some of the resources provided under this bill from some of the other good purposes that are already provided for in the bill. The amendment creates a new grant purpose area for developing, implementing, or expanding a program to ensure the security of opioids in medical facilities. The DEA regulations set forth extensive physical security requirements for the transportation, storage, and dispensing of opioids and other narcotic prescription drugs. The DEA regulations also place tight restrictions on which individuals can access and handle these drugs. The responsibility for regulating and enforcing the rules governing the distribution and storage of schedule II and schedule III narcotics, including opioids, lies with the DEA, and it is not a task that can be undertaken by a grant recipient through the program created by H.R. 5046.…”