Substance Use-Disorder Prevention That Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. KEATING. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of my amendment that directs the Department of the Health and Human Services to issue and expand guidelines for medical providers for prescribing naloxone to reflect a major shift that has occurred in the opioid health crisis that we continue to work to counter today.

Mr. Chairman, earlier this year, I sat in a room with my colleagues on the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force and listened to Dr. Francis Collins and the NIH leadership present data revealing how we have seen a shift in the opioid crisis.

For the first time, we learned that opioid overdoses from prescriptions of opioid drugs have dropped. That is good news.

The shocking news was that overdose rates for illicit opioids, heroin and fentanyl, had risen at an alarming rate.

If we are going to save lives of people overdosing from increasingly prevalent and increasingly unpredictable illicit compounds, we need to make sure naloxone gets in the right hands.

My amendment would provide necessary guidance to patients, providers, public health professionals, first responders, and loved ones on the ability to obtain effective doses of naloxone to combat overdoses of all types of opioids, prescriptions or otherwise.

It is so crucial that people dealing with this brain disease know how to use naloxone in an emergency and, importantly, understand that it is okay to have naloxone in the home.

I was proud that I and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus), who also joins me as a cosponsor of this bipartisan amendment, were able to insert legislative language on prescribing guidelines into the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act that passed Congress and became law last year. But giving HHS the option to issue guidelines didn't go far enough.

This amendment before us is firm in its requirement, and I believe my amendment will more explicitly and more expansively direct and yield necessary change.

Mr. Chairman, I conclude by reaffirming our commitment to ending this devastating epidemic that takes the lives of 115 people every day on average in our country.

I share this commitment with the Members of the House, and I pledge to work with you all to see this amendment's passage and to effect necessary change that reflects the ever-shifting landscape in this battle.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus), the cosponsor of this amendment.

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Mr. KEATING. Mr. Chairman, in Cape Cod, the islands, and South Shore and south coast of Massachusetts, the real cause of death in overdoses now is fentanyl. It is being mixed with cocaine. It is being mixed with marijuana. And this is very important.

This bipartisan amendment will save lives. I want to thank Chairman Walden. I want to thank Chairman Brady. I want to thank my cosponsor Mr. Rothfus. I want to thank Ranking Member Pallone and Ranking Member Neal for their work on an amendment that will truly save lives.

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Mr. KEATING. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Oregon.

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Mr. KEATING. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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