The House is set to pass a slew of bills fighting opioid addiction
The United States House of Representatives is getting ready to put legislative muscle behind the nation's growing fight against opioid addiction, though some say the plan is still too weak.
House legislators are set to pass 18 opioid-related bills that would then be packaged with similar Senate legislation and sent off to the president to become law.
You May Also Like
The bills attack opioid addiction on many fronts.
Measures include extended protection for children, military veterans, and pregnant and postpartum women whose lives have been upended by opioids, and measures that would ease doctors' ability to treat those addicted to opioids.
Police, Drug Enforcement Administration agents and other law enforcement officials would be granted greater authority to disrupt drug trafficking, and the bills would authorize studies of so-called "good Samaritan" laws which say that many people who administer overdose medication to victims are not subject to legal liability.
Other legislation would limit the amount of opioid pills patients can get from a prescription.
Once passed, the bills will be folded into the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which has already passed in the Senate. The two houses of Congress will then get together to hammer out their legislative differences.
While many have welcomed the legislation, the White House and others already fear it doesn't go nearly far enough.
For one, the Democrats have criticized the bill package for not forking over enough cash to pay for everything.
Second, the White House is concerned that the bills don't do nearly enough to address treatment and recovery programs, which they view as vital to fighting the opioid epidemic.
And it is an epidemic. Around 500,000 people have died due to opioid addiction in the United States in the last 15 years, and around 2.5 million more are addicted to opioids right now.
Overdose numbers have shot up across the country, and many local news outlets have recently written near-breathless stories about laced opioids that have led to dozens of overdoses in a matter of days.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released its first guidelines for prescribing opioids, which are used as painkillers. These painkillers, according to the CDC, often carry addiction risks that far outweigh their benefits. Many addicts often become addicted to painkillers and subsequently turn to heroin because it's cheaper, more potent, and often readily available.
In a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, CDC Director Tom Frieden and Debra Houry, the agency's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, wrote that they "know of no other medication routinely used for a nonfatal condition that kills patients so frequently."
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
