OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Substance Use-Disorder Prevention That Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 28, 2018
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Drugs

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairmen Walden and Burgess for working so hard with our partners across the aisle as well as across the Capitol to come to a consensus on this critical legislation necessary to combat the opioid epidemic.

As the only pharmacist currently serving in Congress, I have seen families saved by pain medications and have seen families torn apart by the same drugs.

Since this body began tackling the opioid epidemic, I have said there are three major components to this crisis: prevention, law enforcement, and treatment.

This legislation touches all three prongs of the opioid crisis with a number creative solutions in addition to providing offsets to ensure that solving a public health crisis does not lead to a fiscal one.

This package is not a silver bullet, but as legislators we need to do everything in our capacity to prevent the addiction and overdoses that occur every day in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Walden and Burgess for working so hard with our partners across the aisle as well as across the Capitol to come to a consensus on this critical legislation necessary to combat the opioid epidemic.

As the only pharmacist in Congress, I have seen families saved by pain medications and have seen families torn apart by the same drugs.

Since this body began tackling the opioid epidemic, I have said there are three major parts to the crisis: prevention, law enforcement, and treatment.

This legislation touches all three prongs of the opioid crisis with a number of creative solutions in addition to providing offsets to ensure that solving a public health crisis does not lead to a fiscal one.

I voted for many of these bills when they came before Energy and Commerce for markup, and once again I want to offer my full support for this legislation.

I am pleased that this package includes three of my own bills, the Special Registration for Telemedicine Clarification Act, the Abuse Deterrent Access Act, and the Empowering Pharmacists in the Fight Against Opioid Abuse Act.

This package is not a silver bullet--but as legislators we need to do everything in our capacity to prevent the addiction and overdoses that occur every day in the United States.

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