Skip to footer

Suite of 18 bills to combat opioid scourge set to sail through House

The US House of Representative is poised to pass a set of nearly 20 bills aimed at fighting the national opioid abuse scourge.

|
Andrew Harnik/AP
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., gives a speech at Georgetown University in Washington in April. Mr. Ryan is a supporter of the slate of opioid-related legislation the House is set to approve later this week.

The US House of Representatives is set to vote this week on a slate of legislative measures focused on addressing the country's opioid abuse epidemic.

House Republicans introduced 18 bills for deliberation, which should have bipartisan support. Three of the bills passed Tuesday with only one dissenting vote, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said he expects the rest to be approved in the coming days.

The House Rules Committee is at work inspecting amendments to the rest of the proposed legislation, which, when approved, will be grouped into a final package along with the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). Passed in March by the Senate, CARA authorizes grants to be awarded for efforts aimed at preventing opioid abuse, treating addiction, supporting law enforcement, and incentivizing state initiatives related to abuse response.

After the House and Senate combine the opioid legislation, the package will be sent to President Obama for final approval.

The legislative effort comes as the opioid epidemic continues to affect individuals, families, and communities nationwide. Despite the presence of some recovery and counseling services to combat the issue, many areas still need more help to more effectively deal with the drug problem.

The new set of proposed laws in the House includes measures calling for further studies to examine the country’s response to the opioid crisis, as well as support for doctors’ treatment of abusers and law enforcement’s efforts to combat drug trafficking.

As The Christian Science Monitor reported, the problem isn't simply one being dealt with by adults. It's showing up in high schools and middle schools, among of "Generation Heroin – youths who have grown up among epidemic use of opioids in some corners of America and have seen their own drug overdose rates more than triple in 17 states since 2001.

In Rhode Island, for example, all middle schools must be stocked with naloxone, a drug that can reverse potentially fatal problems related to overdoses. A survey of 81 middle school nurses found that 43 percent said students were abusing opioids, the Associated Press reports. Fifteen of the nurses had to call 911 at least once because of such drugs.

While both sides of the aisle are in support of the bid to fight the opioid scourge, Democrats say that Republicans have not attached sufficient funding to pay for the initiatives provided for in the legislation and are working to attach $600 million in emergency financing, The New York Times reports.

The House remains intent on passing the proposed laws despite other events taking place this week in Washington, including a visit by Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, the Times reports.

“Thursday’s Ryan/Trump meeting is not the most important thing happening in DC this week,” AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ryan, wrote in a memo.

“House Republicans promised swift action to tackle the opioid crisis, and they are staying true to their word,” she added.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Suite of 18 bills to combat opioid scourge set to sail through House
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0511/Suite-of-18-bills-to-combat-opioid-scourge-set-to-sail-through-House
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe