Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman from Virginia for his work and leadership on the underlying bill.

We know that addiction does not wait until adulthood. A majority of adults in substance use treatment start using before turning 18.

My amendment would direct the GAO to study research and programs carried out by the Department of Justice and its grantees and report on those programs' findings and work regarding substance use and substance use disorders among adolescents and young adults.

The amendment would require GAO to report on any gaps in the research around adolescent and young adult substance use that have been identified by experts or Department of Justice officials.

We need to understand what extended opioid use means for young brains and how it affects development and growth. We also need to understand how early exposure to opioids might change young people's needs with respect to treatment and support on the road to recovery.

I would like to tell you about a constituent of mine named Chip. Chip was an athlete. He excelled at hockey and baseball. Playing sports was extremely important to him. But then, in eighth grade, he started drinking. Shortly after, drugs entered the picture, and Chip stopped caring about everything.

As a young husband and father by the time he was 22, Chip always felt like something was missing. Anytime there was a problem, Chip reached for drugs as a solution. He received two OUIs in 1 year. He lost his license. He lost his family. He overdosed on heroin and became homeless.

The addiction ruined his life and devastated anyone who cared for him. It was only when serving a jail sentence for a third OUI that Chip finally heard a recovering addict who came to speak to inmates, and for some reason he connected.

Chip has been in recovery and has been clean and sober for 7 years. He works today as a recovery coach in my district, walking together with others with substance use disorder on the long road to recovery and a future.

We owe it to young adults like Chip who were successful, ambitious, and energetic before opioids to understand what happened to them and how we can prevent it from happening to other adolescents and young adults. We owe it to them to understand how to help them seek and gain effective treatment.

The more information we can collect about how addiction begins in adolescents and how to treat young adults, the clearer we can see where there are gaps in our understanding and the better chance we have of combating this horrific epidemic.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I am grateful to the gentleman from Wisconsin not only for the support of this amendment, but for all the work and leadership he has shown around this issue.

We look forward to working with him to make sure this amendment is tailored to meet the needs of the underlying bill and to be in line with the Department of Justice's work and research.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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