The House has passed 25 bills to combat rising drug-related deaths from opioids, including prescription painkillers and heroin.
The chamber will continue to weigh other anti-opioid legislation during the next two weeks. The issue has received bipartisan support amid overwhelming death tolls in lawmakers’ home states. More than 42,000 people died from opioids in 2016, according to the latest-available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Individually, these bills target some key aspects of the opioid crisis, such as how we boost our prevention efforts and how we better protect our communities,” said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, chairman of the Health Subcommittee. “Taken together, these bills are real solutions that will change how we respond to this crisis, and make our states and local communities better equipped in the nationwide efforts to stem this tide.”
The bills that have passed include measures that would provide resources to help hospitals discharge patients after an overdose by giving them the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, as well as connecting them with peer support specialists and treatment centers. Other bills gave the Food and Drug Administration more authority to stop illegal drugs shipped through the mail and gave the CDC the authority to work with states on tracking diseases that are spread through sharing infected needles. Another bill requires the surgeon general to issue a report on teens who use synthetic drugs, which are made from chemicals.
Yet another bill authorizes the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to develop and share best ways for operating housing facilities that help people recovering from addiction.
One measure would allow the National Institutes of Health to develop more treatments for pain that are not addictive. Most people who have become addicted to opioids moved from prescription painkillers to heroin, which is cheaper and easier to access.
The House passed Jessie’s Law, which allows healthcare professionals to be able to access a patient’s medical history so they can see whether they have previously abused substances and know when to be more careful with their prescriptions. The law requires a patient’s consent in sharing the information.
