Their goal: Show voters they’re tackling a problem that’s killing people in America’s biggest cities and smallest towns. The bills’ sponsors included some lawmakers facing competitive re-election races this fall, including GOP Reps. Frank Guinta of New Hampshire and Bob Dold of IL and Sen.
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A similar bill is pending in the Senate.
“This historic package of anti-drug bills will deliver critical funds to address the abuse of heroin and opiates, support our loved ones on their path towards recovery, and slow the flow of drugs into our country”, said Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla.
The House also passed an amendment, co-written by Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.), created to make information on opioid addiction more available to the public as well as doctors.
Obama has proposed an additional $1.1 billion to address the problem.
There are a number of bills now being debated in the House of Representatives and the Senate aimed at reversing the rising rates of opioid addiction and overdose deaths.
“The unwillingness of the Republicans to either in the Senate or in the House to add funds for this effort is undermining, I think, its success”, said House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
Without money, the House bills “would do little to help the thousands of Americans struggling with addiction”, the White House wrote in a statement to lawmakers.
Members of both parties hailed the measures.
Beyond limiting prescriptions, the bill also includes several provisions that require emergency responders to be trained in the use of a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, require health insurance providers to give coverage for overdose reversal drugs, and expand the membership of the Connecticut Alcohol and Drug council, among others. But Democrats complained that none provided any money for the programs, and anti-drug advocates called the bills a needed but modest first step. The Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act would provide $500 million in funding to states and local communities for education, prevention and treatment programs to combat the use of prescription painkillers and heroin.
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Police, Drug Enforcement Administration agents and other law enforcement officials would be granted greater authority to disrupt drug trafficking, and the bills would authorize studies of so-called “good Samaritan” laws which say that many people who administer overdose medication to victims are not subject to legal liability.
