Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. PETTERSEN. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment, which would require a certification from the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General that this legislation would reduce opioid overdose deaths.
The reason why this is so critical is because we are facing a public health crisis, and it deserves a public health response.
The current legislation is incredibly problematic for the very harmful mandatory minimum sentences that would be enacted and would be very hard to actually address and change in the future.
This is deeply personal for me. Like so many Americans, my mom has struggled with an opioid addiction. When I was just 6 years old, she hurt her back, and she came home with bottles and bottles of opioids.
Unfortunately, after her back healed, my mom found herself physically addicted to opioids. Like so many Americans, she was cut off of her prescription without access to treatment. My mom said that you fear nothing more than withdrawal, even death.
Like so many people who struggle with addiction who don't have access to treatment, she turned to using heroin to stay well.
Ultimately, fentanyl came into the supply chain. It started coming in in 2016. We saw it hit the coasts first and make its way into Colorado. Now we have seen it completely take over the drug supply chain.
I know firsthand how absolutely devastating this drug can be for families. My mom overdosed 20 times that year.
In my fight to keep her alive, I saw firsthand how broken the system was. I am one of the lucky ones because I was in a position, as a State legislator, where I could advocate for my mom to get her the help that she needed.
After being churned in and out of ERs, my mom ultimately was able to recover. She has now been in recovery for 5\1/2\ years and is an example of what is possible when we give people the help that they need.
I absolutely want the person who was my mom's dealer, who would show up to the hospital and put heroin mixed with fentanyl in her IV, I want that person to go to jail for a very long time.
If my mom had a mandatory jail sentence, that would have been a death sentence for her and for far too many people out there.
We are facing a third wave of the opioid epidemic. It has killed more people than all of the world wars combined.
It is important that we address this, that it is an all-hands-on-deck to address it at every level, including additional screening at the ports and the border; additional screening for mail, where we know it is coming in; public awareness campaigns about the dangers of taking just one pill with kids who are buying it from social media companies, unknowingly, and dying from an overdose; accountability with these social media companies on how we are going to work together to ensure that kids are not able to buy this on their platforms; increasing access to residential treatment and recovery services like my mom had that are far too often not available for those who are struggling with a brain disease.
Mr. Chair, I absolutely care deeply about this issue. I look forward to working with all of my colleagues on it, but this is not the right answer, and that is why this amendment is so important.
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Ms. PETTERSEN. Mr. Chair, this is important because if we are trying to solve the overdose crisis in our country, let's make sure that this legislation is actually supported in doing that and go through the necessary process.
We know from our history in the United States that putting people in jail, mandatory minimum sentences, has devastating consequences. This is a public health crisis. We need to come together to address it like that. We need to go after the cartels. We need to go after the dealers. We need to make sure that we are supporting people who are struggling with addiction. I ask for your support.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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