Título: Orrin Hatch
Seção: Opioid crisis
Background: Orrin Grant Hatch (born March 22, 1934) is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States Senator for Utah who has been the President pro tempore of the United States Senate since 2015. Having been a senator since 1977, Hatch is the longest-serving Republican Senator in U.S. history. Hatch served as either the chair or ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993 to 2005. He previously served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions from 1981 to 1987 and currently serves as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee as well as serving on the board of directors for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Conteúdo: Hatch introduced the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, narrowing the broad authority of the DEA to suspend drug "manufacturers, distributors, and dispensers". Hatch stated the bill was also written to protect patients from disruptions in the production and delivery of their prescription drugs: "The fact that prescription drugs can be abused should not prevent patients from receiving the medications they need. This bill takes a balanced approach to the problem of prescription drug abuse by clarifying penalties for manufacturing or dispensing outside approved procedures while helping to ensure that supply chains to legitimate users remain intact". The bill passed the Senate unanimously and Tom Marino passed a version of the bill in the House and was signed by President Barack Obama.  Critics of the bill claim the new law fuels the opioid crisis by limiting the DEA's ability to halt production and distribution by predatory drug companies. DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge John J. Mulrooney II wrote in the Marquette Law Review: "At a time when, by all accounts, opioid abuse, addiction and deaths were increasing markedly, this new law imposed a dramatic diminution of the agency's authority. It is now all but logically impossible for the DEA to suspend a drug company's operations for failing to comply with federal law." Donald Trump's Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the law "dubious" and joined 44 state attorneys general calling for "repeal or amend

user: How is Hatch involved with the Opioid Crisis?

assistant: Hatch introduced the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, narrowing the broad authority of the DEA to suspend drug "manufacturers, distributors, and dispensers

user: Was the Act voted into law?

assistant: The bill passed the Senate unanimously and Tom Marino passed a version of the bill in the House and was signed by President Barack Obama.

user: How did the Opioid crisis develop?

assistant: Critics of the bill claim the new law fuels the opioid crisis by limiting the DEA's ability to halt production and distribution by predatory drug companies.

user: How does the law affect the drug companies?

assistant: It is now all but logically impossible for the DEA to suspend a drug company's operations for failing to comply with federal law."

user: Did the bill cause controversy?

assistant: Jeff Sessions called the law "dubious" and joined 44 state attorneys general calling for "repeal or amendment of the law to restore some of the DEA's authority.