Senate to Vote on Ayotte's Bipartisan Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act

Press Release

U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte announced today that the Senate is set to vote next week on taking up the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), legislation she helped reintroduce with Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). The bill would increase support for prevention, treatment, first responders, and individuals in recovery, and Ayotte has been fighting to bring the bill to the Senate floor.

"I urge all of my colleagues in the Senate to support the bipartisan Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which takes important steps to improve treatment for those struggling with a substance use disorder, enhance prevention efforts, ensure law enforcement and first responders have greater access to tools to support their efforts on the front lines, support those in recovery, and develop best prescribing practices for pain management. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue - it affects all of us, and I urge my colleagues to vote to take up and pass this important legislation."

Last month, Senator Ayotte invited Manchester Police Chief Nick Willard to testify before the Judiciary Committee about the opioid abuse epidemic in New Hampshire. Senator Ayotte also testified before the committee, urging its members to pass CARA out of the committee and onto the full Senate. The Judiciary Committee passed CARA with unanimous support earlier this month.

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act would:

* Expand prevention and educational efforts.

* Expand the availability of naloxone to law enforcement agencies and other first responders to help in the reversal of overdoses to save lives.

* Expand resources to identify and treat incarcerated individuals suffering from substance use disorders promptly by collaborating with criminal justice stakeholders and by providing evidence-based treatment.

* Expand disposal sites for unwanted prescription medications to keep them out of the hands of our children and adolescents.

* Launch an evidence-based opioid and heroin treatment and interventions program. While we have medications that can help treat addiction, there is a critical need to get the training and resources necessary to expand treatment best practices throughout the country.

* Strengthen prescription drug monitoring programs to help states monitor and track prescription drug diversion and to help at-risk individuals access services.

The legislation is also supported by the National Association of Attorneys General, National District Attorneys Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors, Faces and Voices of Recovery, the National Council for Behavioral Health, and the Major County Sheriffs' Association, among many others.

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