Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak in support of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2015, also known as the CARA Act. Our country is facing a prescription drug epidemic, and today is a good step toward addressing this crisis. This is a crisis I have been dealing with since my days as Governor of the great State of West Virginia. Opioid abuse is not only ravaging my State, it is ravaging the country. Drug overdose deaths have soared by more than 700 percent since 1999. We lost 600 West Virginians to opioids last year alone. But our State is not unique; every day in our country, 51 Americans die from opioid abuse, and since 1999 we have lost almost 200,000 Americans to prescription opioid abuse. Think about that. That is more people than we have in any city in the State of West Virginia. This bill is an important first step. First of all, it will authorize $77.9 million in grant funding for prevention and recovery efforts. It will expand prevention and educational efforts--particularly aimed at teens, parents and other caretakers, and aging populations--to prevent the abuse of opioids and heroin and to promote treatment and recovery. It will expand the availability of naloxone to law enforcement agencies and other first responders to help in the reversal of overdoses to save lives. It will expand disposable sites for unwanted prescription medications to keep them out of the hands of our children and adolescents.…”