Date: 2016-05-12
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Speaker. I thank my good friend. Representative BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN. for hosting this Special Order to talk about opioids and drug policies. Our country is currently facing a great crisis. According to the Centers for Disease Control. 78 Americans die each day from an opioid overdose. We are in the midst of an addiction epidemic. an epidemic robbing mothers and fathers of their children. and children of their future. I cannot imagine the torture and hardship that not only those with these addictions suffer. but their families and friends as well. seeing their loved ones in pain. unable to help them. But that does not have to be the case. Congress can make a difference. Our actions here can help save lives. save people from suffering and having to bury a loved one. But we cannot stop this epidemic with just congressional authorization of new grant programs. studies. reports. We must fund these needed tools so that communities have the resources they so desperately need. Today the House passed. and I was proud to support the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act. a bipartisan bill creating the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Grant Program. And while I wholeheartedly support this new program. we have to make sure we provide the funding that is necessary to get the program up and running. This new program and any others we enact will be no help without funding to support it. Since 2000. there has been a 200 percent increase in the rate of deaths attributed to opioids. This problem is only getting worse. and has been for some time. [ 1700 Our actions are already too late for the 28.000 lives lost just in 2014. The leading cause of accidental death in New York State is now an overdose. An estimated 886 lives were lost citywide in 2015. That is 886 preventable deaths a year just in New York City. 886 individuals that could still be here today had we acted sooner. Last month. Mayor de Blasio announced a new $5.5 million plan to combat deaths caused by overdose. building on the ThriveNYC initiative. a program to support those suffering with mental health problems. Actually. today. the first lady. Chirlane. was here in Washington meeting with the delegation on the Thrive initiative on ways that we were working in the city to combat the opioid epidemic. Earlier this week. Governor Cuomo of New York launched a statewide task force to face the heroin and opioid crisis in the State headon. But our States cant do it alone. and they shouldnt need to. This isnt a problem confined to one district. one State. or one section of the country. It is a nationwide epidemic that cannot be allowed to continue unabated any longer. We owe it to all those suffering. those addicted and their families. to show we recognize this problem and that we are working for them. not only through our efforts. our votes authorizing these new programs today. studies. and reports. but through actually putting the necessary support behind these efforts and funding them. We can and we must work to save lives. But all those votes are for naught if we dont actually get these programs off the ground. Communities across the country need our help. and the time to act is now. We have already lost too many to this epidemic. I am proud of the votes on the floor today in support of moving forward to do something about it. I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership and for yielding.