Date: 2016-05-12
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New Jersey

Mr. Speaker. for what feels like the first time this year. the House got to work on something that would genuinely help millions of Americans: addressing the opioid crisis. My home State of New Jersey is a perfect example of this epidemic in both reach and financial impact. Four of every five new heroin users started their drug abuse addictions with a prescription opioid. By one estimate. New Jersey is now home to more than 128.000 heroin addicts. In the past 10 years. heroin has claimed 5.000 lives in my State. and we fall just short of the top 10 in the percent of healthcare costs we use on those suffering with opioid addiction. Opioids. both heroin and prescription painkillers. are driving the national crisis of lethal overdose. with more than 60 percent of these deaths attributed to opiate abuse. Many have called this an epidemic. and they are absolutely right. It deserves our attention. and I applaud the bipartisan work we have done this week. But while we have taken a few vital steps. there are two very important things that I need my colleagues to understand. First. that although we have newly and rightly chosen to show those dealing with opioid addiction compassion and clemency. the only thing new about the addiction epidemic is its face. The greatest spikes have been among White. suburban Americans. for whom we are opening doors for treatment. rehabilitation. and alternatives to incarceration. Meanwhile. communities of color have watched families arrested. convicted. and imprisoned for decades over nonviolent drug offenses. African Americans are three to four times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes. and when these offenders go behind bars instead of to treatment beds. it breaks families and has lasting. devastating impacts on both families and communities. We have now begun to take an evidencebased approach to drug abuse. one that recognizes that arrest and long prison terms come at great cost and zero benefit. It is something that we should have done a long time ago. But now that we recognize the flawed policies of the past. we need to turn a critical eye to the victims of the older paradigm and offer them the doors to rehabilitation that we have created for todays offenders. There is a second vital step here. Mr. Speaker. without which all of our bipartisanship today would be meaningless. We have authorized a variety of measures that have the potential to stop the advance of the opioid crisis. but without funding and continued review. our work will be worthless. States and local municipalities need new resources to combat this crisis if we are going to make any kind of difference. That is why my Democratic colleagues put forward a proposal that will provide $600 million in new funds specifically to fight opioids and heroin. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle voted to block that proposal. which makes me concerned that they assume that the handful of authorizations we have worked on will be enough. With 78 Americans dying from opioid overdose every day. the American people cannot afford for us to wash our hands of this issue without providing the resources necessary to halt this epidemic for all of those that are affected. We need to keep pushing forward. Mr. Speaker. I yield to my colleague from Minnesota . the honorable chairman of our Progressive Caucus.