Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2015
Floor Speech
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Ms. MURKOWSKI.
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Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I am here this afternoon on the floor to join with colleagues as we discuss the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, CARA. I would suggest that from the perspective of families across the country, many would look at this and say this is probably one of the more important pieces of legislation that this Senate could be taking up this year.
If we think about this crisis, this epidemic that we are seeing across the country with opioid addiction, it is probably one of the most pressing public health issues facing American families all across the country. As we have heard from colleagues, this is not just one single State's issue. This is not just one region of the country. This is across all 50 States. I always like to think that in Alaska, because we are so far away, we are so remote, perhaps we might be insulated from some of the negative aspects of this modern society. In fact, we cannot isolate, we cannot insulate ourselves from the scourge of the drugs and the drug addiction we are seeing.
This addiction does not discriminate. It doesn't discriminate against any demographic, any group. Again, it can't be confined to a single geographic region. It impacts young people. It impacts our older people, the lower income people, the middle-income people, and the higher income levels. Those of us who have served our Nation as our honored veterans, pregnant women, and even newborn babies can suffer from addiction.
The stories we hear when we are back home visiting with our constituents, talking with friends, talking with neighbors, and then hearing these stories recounted on the floor--these are heartbreaking stories that come from all over the country, from the east coast, again, all the way to the most remote villages of Alaska. We have seen and we have heard the pain that opioid addiction causes. It is important that we take action and that we address this issue now before it worsens. Unfortunately, as we see the statistics, that is where it is going, that is the trend, and that is the direction.
The rates of addiction and hospitalization will only continue to skyrocket unless we can throttle this back, unless we can get our hands around it. This is our opportunity not only to treat but to prevent opioid addiction. Lots of numbers have been discussed on the floor about this epidemic that we are seeing, and the numbers really are horrifying. In Alaska, the mortality rates related to opioid and heroin abuse have more than tripled since 2008. In 2015, we had 33 Alaskans die from heroin overdose--perhaps even more that we just haven't been able to identify. The rates on inpatient hospitalization for heroin and opioid poisoning have nearly doubled since 2008. The cost is over millions of dollars.
As we know, it is often our young people who suffer from addiction the most, and certainly the most directly. Between 2008 and 2013, the rate of individuals between 21 and 29 years old being admitted to treatment centers has doubled. Again, we are talking about numbers, and we are talking about statistics. But we are really not. We are talking about our friends, we are talking about family, and we are talking about neighbors. But we can make a difference if we provide the resources and if we provide the education and the outreach, not just to young people but to all, so that they understand the dangers of opioid addiction.
Unfortunately, some of what we have seen with this addiction is that somehow or another, opioids are viewed as less a health threat because they are prescription. What CARA does, what this legislation in front of us does, is to help address the educational need, provide States and communities with grant options and resources to ensure that all in the community--the educators, the parents, the doctors, other members of the community--have the knowledge and have the tools they need to guide and support young people and the community at large. But it is just so hard; it has been so hard to see families and friends lose their loved ones to addiction.
Over the past several months in the community of Juneau, our State capital, there have been a series of newspaper articles that have chronicled how that community has been impacted by the loss of young people due to heroin. Six young people, all under the age of 30, were lost last year. In September, a young man who was a softball player lost his life due to heroin overdose. Two weeks after that, another family lost a son who was going to film school.
You read the stories, you read the details about the lives of these young people, who could be like any of us until something happens. And what that something is is an exposure to opioids and an addiction that, again, cuts a life short. Those parents of these young people, as parents in States all across the Nation, grieve for the loss of their children and wonder what they could have done to perhaps help save their child's life. Again, the community of Juneau is recounting that, but it is all over our communities.
This drug addiction knows no boundaries. It seeps into and corrodes Alaska's most remote and rural communities. These are communities, I will remind you, where it is not like there is easy access to them. These are communities--80 percent of the communities in the State of Alaska are not connected by road. In order to get to them, particularly this time of year, the only way to get in is to fly in. It is expensive to fly in. In the summer, there are water options, but that too is expensive. So while it is difficult for people to move in and out, somehow or another the drugs are coming in and out. The heroin and the opioid addiction have found their way into these remote communities, leaving families and loved ones scrambling and desperate as they try to help those whom they love.
Unfortunately, the resources we have in terms of any form of treatment centers are so incredibly limited. In one of the communities that is on the road system, the community of Palmer, just north of Anchorage, our largest city, I was at an event this summer. Lots of people wanted to talk to me at this picnic. There was a woman with her daughter who was in her early twenties, and that woman waited patiently, patiently, patiently to be able to speak with me alone. She asked to go off into a corner of the outdoor area that we were in so that she could speak to me about her daughter's situation. Her daughter was an addict. She had been in and out of jail. She had been in and out of treatment. Nothing had worked, and this mother had no place else to go, no place else for her daughter to go. So she, as one mom who cared, was trying to help raise awareness of the lack of facilities, the lack of treatment, and the lack of options for so many in her situation. You listen to stories like that, and you realize that we must attempt to do all we can.
Granted, we are sitting here in Washington, DC. The Federal Government doesn't always know what is best. We know that for a fact, but how is it that we can help these families, these communities, as they deal with, again, this scourge that has afflicted so many?
We have had some good news in the State of Alaska. Just this week, the Alaska State House of Representatives passed a bill that will remove civil liabilities for providing or administering the drug naloxone to treat opioid and heroin overdose. It was actually the representative from Juneau, Representative Munoz, who spoke to the need for reform and helped lead this important measure. That is on its way to the Governor's desk. Again, I think it is an important option for lifesaving treatment.
As we work together--those of us who have cosponsored the CARA bill and all who have expressed their concern--we know we need to keep the pressure on. We need to keep the momentum up to address this, not only in Alaska but around the country, to fight back, to deal with this addiction we are seeing, and to really attack the issue from every degree. From mental health to criminal justice reform, community programs, educational resources, tools for veterans and pregnant women, addressing this widespread issue with a widespread response is important.
I thank my colleagues who have led on this issue, and the Presiding Officer here today has clearly done just that. I thank the Presiding Officer for his leadership on this.
As I have spoken this afternoon on opioid addiction, and perhaps more specifically to heroin addiction, I always feel compelled to mention that in my State, and particularly in Anchorage, we have seen a spike of ``spice'' abuse. This is a synthetic marijuana. More and more, we are seeing individuals who are being sent to the hospital. It is our firefighters who seemingly are responding to more spice and more heroin incidents than they are responding to fire calls. Recognizing that it is not just heroin, but it is other drugs that are truly wreaking havoc on our families and our communities, we need to unite together to make a difference.
So I think what we are doing here in this body is a first step. Passing this legislation is an important response, and through what we are doing, we can work to change the direction in which, unfortunately, we have been going.
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