On the recordJuly 12, 2016
Overuse of prescription pain medication is one of the leading causes of opioid addiction. When a patient has more narcotic pain medication than they need after a medical event, this excess medication can fall into the wrong hands. Narcotic pain medication in the wrong hands often leads to addiction. In fact, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has found that 1 in 15 people who take nonmedical prescription pain relievers will try heroin. Last year, the number of fatal overdoses from prescription painkillers increased by 16 percent--and 28 percent from heroin--in the United States. In West Virginia, the story is even worse. According to a recent study by the Trust for America's Health, the Mountain State has the highest rate of overdose deaths in the entire United States. This issue is above party politics. It is a plague that all Americans must come together to solve. That is why, in February, I introduced H.R. 4499, the Promoting Responsible Opioid Prescribing Act. This bipartisan bill strikes a harmful provision of ObamaCare that places unnecessary pressure on doctors and hospitals to prescribe narcotic pain medication. This concern was brought to my attention while meeting with doctors and other healthcare professionals in Charleston, West Virginia, who are active in our State's medical society. I thank them for bringing this to my attention. It is a perfect example of how government works well.…
