Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. KEATING. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment to H.R. 5046 to include drug take-back programs in the list of funds made available under the bill's Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Grant Program.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that healthcare providers in the U.S. write 259 million prescriptions for opioids a year, enough for every American adult to have their own bottle of pills.

In Massachusetts alone, 4.4 million opioid prescriptions, including 240 million pills, capsules, or tablets were dispensed in 2014. Further, nearly half of the people in my State report that it is too easy to get prescription opioids from those who have leftover pills. And the people who share these leftover pills are usually unaware of the significant dangers that they represent.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that nearly 4 in 5 people addicted to heroin say their habit began by misusing prescription medications. Over half of those people report they got their prescription painkillers from a friend or a relative for free. And this includes adolescents.

My amendment would help give these people ways to stop their problem before it starts. More than ever, communities need to supply safe disposal services to their residents to get excess pills out of the hands of people who don't need them. My amendment would make sure that our communities have access to the resources they need to do so.

The American Medical Association recognizes this point in its strong support of drug take-back programs, and the FDA has published information regarding proper disposal of unused medications as well.

When I was a district attorney, I worked with local and State police to combat the flow of drugs coming into our neighborhoods. Yet, as the public supported these efforts to keep dangerous drugs off the streets, they didn't realize that the greatest supply of these dangerous drugs was sitting in their own medicine cabinets.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Goodlatte and Chairman Sensenbrenner. I also thank my colleagues--Mr. Rothfus, Mr. Blumenauer, Dr. Roe of Tennessee, and Mr. Bera--for cosponsoring this amendment and joining me in this effort to add a commonsense step toward solving this important public health epidemic.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

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Mr. KEATING. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman.

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Mr. KEATING. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Bera).

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Mr. KEATING. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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