Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak for the millions of Americans impacted by prescription drug abuse, particularly those in my home State of West Virginia, where 600 lives are lost every year to opioids. I believe the FDA must start taking prescription drug abuse seriously, and that will not happen without a cultural change in the agency. The Presiding Officer and I are taking on this issue in the drug prevention caucus and addressing how opioids have affected South Carolina, West Virginia, and the effect the epidemic has had on all of America. We have seen too many examples of the FDA standing in the way of efforts to address the opioid abuse epidemic. If you look at this chart, you can see the rise in deaths over the last 15 years and what it has done to our country and our States. It is unbelievable and unacceptable. We have been able to face and cure every other epidemic in this country. We seem to be keeping this one out of sight and out of mind. The FDA delayed for years before finally agreeing to reschedule hydrocodone. My first 3 years in the Senate were consumed by getting the FDA to come around on this important step. Since the change went into effect, we have seen a number of prescriptions for combination hydrocodone products, such as Vicodin and Lortab, fall by 22 percent. That is over 1 billion pills not being put on the market.…”