Addiction. It’s a word with a
lot of weight and unfortunately, a lot of stigma. Too
often, people don’t want to talk about addiction. People
might even think they don’t know anyone suffering from
addiction.
But the simple fact is
they likely do.
In 2018, more than 2 million
Americans will suffer from addiction to prescription or
illicit opioids. And that doesn’t even take
into account the family and friends who suffer, too. In
North Carolina, we have four of the top 25 worst cities for
opioid abuse in the country. This truly is the
crisis next door.
As I’ve traveled across our
district, I have seen the faces and heard the stories of
opioid addiction. These drugs do not discriminate based on
gender, race, social class, or age. They destroy lives,
families, marriages, and careers. One
particularly devastating story has stuck with me from a
constituent I met while touring a treatment facility, and
I’d like to share it with you.
I met a young man who was a
police captain and the son of a police chief in the same
small town. He had a bright future until he injured his back
on the job and was prescribed an opioid following surgery.
He told me he vividly remembers becoming addicted the first
time he took one of these pills. And like so
many Americans, he found himself in a dangerous spiral. Within
a year, he was a full blown heroin addict.
This young man has since
recovered and now mentors addicts during their treatment. His
story paints a clear picture of the good work our local
officials and recovery centers do to restore lives. I
recently had the chance to speak with the North Carolina
Rural Health Center on how they are assisting communities
affected with opioid addiction. We all agreed that we must
strengthen resources for prevention and treatment, including
establishing more comprehensive recovery centers to help get
people back on their feet.
Stories and people like
this are inspiring action. Last week and
continuing this week, the House is voting on more than
70 bills to improve access to care for individuals
suffering from substance use disorders, provide our
health care system with tools and resources it needs to
care for patients, and help prevent future misuse of
opioids.
Altogether, this is
the most significant congressional action ever taken
against a single drug crisis in history.
This bipartisan effort
follows the passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and
Recovery Act and the 21st Century Cures Act last
Congress, as well as the $4 billion appropriated in the FY18
omnibus to combat the opioid crisis.
Included in last week’s
legislation was my bipartisan bill, the Safe Disposal of
Unused Medication Act. And this week, we
will consider another one of my bipartisan bills, the Securing
Opioids and Unused Narcotics with Deliberate (SOUND)
Disposal and Packaging Act. These bills
will help ensure unused opioids don’t go from our medicine
cabinets or health care facilities onto the streets and into
the wrong hands. This is a small – but critical
– step in combatting the opioid crisis, especially when you
consider that the majority of people don’t use all the
opioid pills they’re prescribed.
While Congress and the Trump
Administration are working to address the opioid epidemic,
there is still so much more work to do. Two
important pieces of the puzzle are education and awareness
within our local communities. We all play a
role in this – we need to continue to work to end the stigma
around addiction and offer our compassion and support.
If you or someone you know
needs help with substance abuse, please contact the North
Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental
Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services at (919)
715-3197 or find your local center for help and information
at www.ncdhhs.gov.
Our community is here to support you.
Lane
Ross Designs
