Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2015--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. This is a bill that we have been working on for 2 years--Senator Portman, Senator Whitehouse, and Senator Klobuchar. I thank them for their partnership and leadership on this bill. This is something the four of us got together on because we saw in our own States the public health epidemic that was happening with our constituents: individuals struggling with addiction, people who were addicted to prescription drugs and overusing and misusing prescription drugs, and then with the price of heroin on our streets so low that people are turning to heroin and also a combination of heroin and a deadly drug called fentanyl.

I thank Senators Portman, Whitehouse, and Klobuchar for the work we have been doing together over the last several years on this bill to see this bill come to this Senate floor. This is a very important piece of legislation and will help us address the public health epidemic facing my home State of New Hampshire and this country. This is something I have come to the floor about on several occasions before.

Traveling around my State, I can't tell you the number of stories I have heard from people in New Hampshire about what we are facing and the number of lives that are lost, the number of lives that are devastated by heroin and fentanyl and misuse of prescription drugs.

This is a life-or-death issue in my State. The number of drug overdose deaths has been staggering. Before I came to the Senate, I served as attorney general of our State, and so I worked with law enforcement on these issues, whether it was methamphetamine, cocaine, or other illegal drugs, but I have never seen anything like this. As of last week, the chief medical examiner's office had recorded that there were 420 drug deaths in 2015, and that was a dramatic increase in New Hampshire from the year before. The year before, we had about 320 drug deaths. So this is more than one person dying a day in my State. Many more than die in traffic accidents are dying from drug overdoses, and it is a combination, again, the driver of this--heroin and Fentanyl. Fentanyl is 40 to 50 percent times more powerful than heroin, and when the drug dealers mix it up with the heroin, it is a killer.

As Eric Spofford told me--he is an incredible guy who is in recovery and has opened treatment facilities in our State. He got it right when he said fentanyl is a serial killer because that is what it is.

In the month of February alone, there were 14 suspected opioid overdose deaths just in the city of Manchester--14 in just one city in my State. That is a record high in Manchester, NH. These are not just numbers that we are talking about. Behind every statistic is a life, a life that is taken from us far too soon and has been tragically lost--a mother, a daughter, a son, a brother, a neighbor, a friend, a coworker. This hits all of us, and these are people who are being lost from this horrible epidemic.

Behind the statistics and behind the headlines we see every day in the news, there are family members, friends, and communities that have been deeply impacted by this public health crisis, such as the mother from Greenville, NH, who wrote to me. She spends her days actually doing incredibly important work, helping people who are struggling with addiction. She helps them, and yet she has been coming home to see her own son struggling with heroin. She told me, ``As I tried to comfort those who have been affected by this tragedy, I think that my son will be next.''

In Laconia, a man helps those struggling to get treatment, but he feels helpless when they are faced with a 5-month waiting period for a rehabilitation facility. He wrote, ``In 5 months, these individuals may be dead.''

A parent from Salem, NH, contacted me and told me her son is struggling with heroin addiction, and she needs help finding a treatment program for him since she could not afford to pay for treatment herself. Parents don't know where to go.

I have met many parents who want to get help for their kids, and they are having a hard time finding a place and knowing where to go. Another mother of three children had to revive her son from an overdose before the paramedics could arrive.

The Griffin family from Newton, whom I have gotten to know well, lost their beautiful 20-year-old daughter Courtney to an overdose. Now, Courtney's father Doug and Courtney's mother Pam have made it their mission to bring awareness to this issue and to make sure that others don't suffer from the same tragedy they have suffered in the lost life of a beautiful young woman named Courtney, who had so much of life before her and so much potential. Doug and Pam and so many other dedicated people in New Hampshire are working tirelessly to turn the tide against this epidemic.

Over the past 2 years, I made it a priority to travel the State and hear from our public safety community, treatment providers, addiction experts, families, and individuals in recovery about finding effective strategies to address this problem. On ride-alongs with the police and fire, I have been to overdoses. I have seen them bring people back to life, administering Narcan only to say that they face this every single day. If we don't focus on prevention and we don't focus on treatment, and the important work that our first responders are doing, then we are not going to get at this problem and make sure people who are struggling get out of this cycle of addiction.

Treatment facilities in New Hampshire are certainly working tirelessly, and individuals are stepping up to expand our capacity in New Hampshire to support individuals who need help, and they need more support. I want to take a moment to recognize some of their hard work. Among so many others, I am grateful that there are so many working hard together in New Hampshire: Hope for New Hampshire Recovery, Families in Transition Willows Program, the Farnum Center, Westbridge Community Services in Manchester, GateHouse Sober Community in Nashua, Hope on Haven Hill, Bonfire Recovery Services in Dover, The Granite House in Derry, and the New Freedom Academy in Canterbury. I have met many incredible people who are dedicating their lives to this.

I have had the opportunity to visit these facilities and hear directly from the dedicated professionals who work there. They do critically important work. You have average people coming together, whether to organize a 5K race or to gain resources and support for people who are on the frontlines. This is what those who are on the frontlines are saying: Tackling this epidemic and reversing the tide of addiction will take a comprehensive, thoughtful approach, and include strategies for treatment, prevention, education, support for individuals in recovery, and interdiction. That is why we have to pass CARA.

CARA is important because it embodies the comprehensive approach that so many in my State have told me they need. Here is what it looks like. It gives more support to first responders and law enforcement, expanding the availability of lifesaving drugs like Narcan, which our first responders are using every day. And because CARA will help make this happen, it has been endorsed by the National Fraternal Order of Police, National District Attorneys Association, and National Association of Attorneys General, including New Hampshire's own attorney general, Joe Foster.

It strengthens prescription drug monitoring programs to help prevent ``doctor shopping.'' This is something I have been advocating for since I was attorney general of our State so that our public health officials can have the tools--because we know from SAMHSA research that four out of five people started by misusing or overusing prescription drugs and transferred to heroin. So this is critical.

It increases access to treatment, including evidence-based medication assisted treatment, which can help people have more access. We need to turn the tide. Over 130 stakeholder groups have gotten behind this legislation, groups that are on the frontline of this issue. Just to name some of them, it has been endorsed by the National Council for Behavioral Health, American Psychological Association, American Society of Addiction Medicine, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, Harm Reduction Coalition, Faces and Voices of Recovery, Mental Health America, Young People in Recovery, National Association of State Alcohol and Substance Abuse Directors, among many others. I thank these groups for their feedback.

It would support additional resources to identify and treat incarcerated individuals suffering from substance abuse disorders and expand prevention. It is so important we address prevention.

It would establish a campaign to bring greater awareness to the association between the overuse and misuse of prescription drugs and what happens as people misuse prescription drugs and then go to heroin and deadly drugs like fentanyl.

This bill has overwhelming bipartisan support. It has 42 bipartisan co-sponsors.

I see my colleague from New Hampshire on the floor. I want to thank her for her sponsorship of this legislation. This crisis does not discriminate. It doesn't care. Heroin, fentanyl--the devastating impact of this drug does not care whether you're a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, whatever your background.

This is something that affects all of us. A high school student from Manchester who wrote to me, sharing how concerned he is about the negative impact this epidemic is having on his city. When he walks home from school, he sometimes sees discarded needles on the sidewalk, and tragically he lost his best friend to a fentanyl overdose.

Abi, who lives in the Seacoast Region, struggled with an opioid use disorder through her pregnancy until she was finally able to receive help and treatment and enter recovery. I met Abi, and I am so inspired by her because she shows us we can make a difference and we can turn this around.

A woman in Londonderry, who spoke to me at a community forum, was terrified her brother would suffer a reoccurrence as soon as he was released from prison because he wasn't getting treatment. She was worried about his path to a successful life because he was still suffering from a substance abuse disorder.

Then there is Angela from Nashua, who has turned her story into a rallying cry for others. Angela lost her mother to a heroin overdose 17 years ago and has adopted the children of several of her aunts and cousins who have lost their battles with addiction. After all of this, Angela's son and his girlfriend have become addicted to opioids and his girlfriend overdosed in Angela's home. Her son is still battling with heroin addiction.

There are so many groups that are working to support these individuals and we need to give them our support. They cannot and should not have to do this alone.

I see my colleague, Senator Shaheen from New Hampshire on the floor. I really appreciate her leadership on this issue. I am a cosponsor of Senator Shaheen's standalone legislation which would provide emergency appropriations in order to combat the heroin and prescription opioid crisis facing our State. In fact, she and I have both written to Health and Human Services and asked them to designate this as a public health emergency. We have seen the impact on our State and we have seen the lives that are being lost and impacted by this. So I am going to be cosponsoring Senator Shaheen's amendment to CARA and supporting it on the floor. I very much support her getting a vote on this amendment, and I hope that happens.

In addition, I appreciate that the President has put in additional resources in his budget to address this issue. This is an issue that we all have to work together on.

At the end of the year, there was also important funding that was passed that CARA would provide a very important framework for. Last year during the appropriations process, Congress worked to increase by 284 percent funding for programs at CDC and SAMHSA related to combating opioid abuse. While this is a positive step forward, these dollars actually haven't been distributed yet. It is important we pass CARA to make sure that as we go forward with the dollars that have already been appropriated and as we go forward in the appropriations process this year, that we have the framework to properly redirect this funding for prevention, treatment, and first responders, to make sure we have the feedback of 130 stakeholder groups and law enforcement throughout the country and to ensure that these dollars are appropriately spent to address the epidemic we are facing.

I have been honored to work over the last several years, again, with Senators Portman, Whitehouse, and Klobuchar in introducing this bill. In fact, I also thank the head of drug policy in the administration, Director Botticelli. He summed it up well when we asked him what he thought about CARA. He said in a hearing before the Judiciary Committee in January:

There is clear evidence that a comprehensive response looking at multidimensional aspects of this that are embedded in the CARA Act are tremendously important. We know we need to do more, and I think that all of those components put forward in this bill are critically important to making headway in terms of this epidemic.

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act would be a significant step forward in a Federal response to this public health epidemic that is facing New Hampshire and so many other States in the country. I urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation, to listen to the people of New Hampshire and to the people of this country who are asking us to act.

This is what they are saying in New Hampshire.

In Center Barnstead: ``Please pass legislation to save my son's life.''

In Manchester: ``I wake up every morning with a fear that I will find my son dead. I am crying out for help.''

In Spofford: ``I want my voice to be heard so that no one else falls through the cracks.''

In Londonderry: ``Addiction can happen to anyone.''

In Tilton: ``We need action, and we need it right now.''

We have an opportunity on this floor right now, in this debate, with very thoughtful legislation, very bipartisan legislation--the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act--to take action now. We owe it to all those who have lost their lives, their families who have been impacted, and those who are struggling with addiction. We owe it to the first responders in our community and to the people who are working hard to turn this around in New Hampshire and across this country. To all, I thank them for the incredible work they are doing.

We need to pass this legislation. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. This bill will make a difference, and I believe it will help save lives in New Hampshire and across the country.

There is no doubt that passing this bill will make a difference. We will all need to continue to do more. We will all need to continue to fight for more and more support through the appropriations process and any way we can. I intend to keep up this fight because I know lives are on the line. I know this issue is impacting my State. I know that as I talk to the mothers, the daughters, the fathers, the sons, the friends who are telling me the stories of the people they have lost, that we can turn this around. It is so important that we pass this legislation.

Again, I wish to thank my colleague from the State of New Hampshire for her work on this.

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