Rep. Chu Statement on Opioid Conference Committee Report
Washington, DC – Today, the House of Representatives passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016. The final bill reflects report language from the Conference Committee consisting of Democratic and Republican members of the House and Senate which met earlier this week to finalize legislation addressing the opioid epidemic. The Conference Committee was selected to reconcile the 18 opioid bills passed by the House of Representatives in May with the single opioid measure passed by the Senate in March. Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), a member of the Conference Committee, voted for the report, but expressed concern that more action will be needed urgently because the final Conference report did not include funding for prevention programs and access to treatment and recovery. Rep. Chu released the following statement:
“Decades ago, I was a drug abuse counselor, helping people detox off heroin and barbiturates,” said Rep. Chu. “It is alarming to see that today, opioid and heroin abuse is once again on the rise. It is, in fact, at epidemic levels in every community throughout our country, including my state of California, which, according to the CDC, saw 4,521 drug overdose deaths in 2014 alone. That is why this legislation is so essential. But I am concerned that the legislation does not provide actual funding to increase access to prevention, treatment, or recovery programs.
“Recently in my district in Pasadena, I met Ryan Hampton, who like four in five new heroin users, began by using prescription drugs. He was once an ambitious White House intern who was succeeding in college. But then, he broke his knee while hiking and was put on prescription opiates for pain. Ryan, like so many other young people, became dependent on prescription drugs and started running out of his prescriptions too fast. He was then labeled a ‘Drug-Seeker’ and discharged from medical care. Without any other option, he turned to heroin. The fall into heroin addiction was quick and within months he was homeless and living on the streets.
“Ryan sought treatment after overdosing and was told his life depended on it. But there was a month-long waiting list for accessing publicly available treatment options. Thankfully, one of his family members was able to send him to a self-pay treatment program. But most are not that lucky. He told me that if he had to wait the 30 days to access care, he would have been one of the tragic, overdose statistics we are talking about today.
“While I am pleased we were able to take bipartisan action today, it is not the end. We must now build on this progress and take the next steps to fulfill the promise of this bill by providing the funding necessary to save lives. Going into this Conference, we made our demand for funding known and so I am disappointed that Republican leadership moved forward without it. I understand that discussions are ongoing on how Congress will appropriate these funds in the coming months and I remain committed to fighting for these resources to bring an end to this epidemic.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s Conference, all Democratic members of the committee sent a letter to Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of the conference committee, advising him they would be opposed to a final conference report that does not provide any resources to immediately combat the opioid addiction epidemic. A copy of that letter can found here.