WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Senate voted 94-1 to pass the Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act to help address the opioid abuse crisis.  U.S. Senator Jack Reed voted in favor of the bill, but lamented that Republicans blocked language he supported to include needed funding to ensure evidence-based education, treatment, and recovery programs that work. 

The legislation, which was co-authored by U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) is a comprehensive package of proposals and builds off Senator Reed’s Overdose Prevention Act, which aims to decrease the rate of drug overdose deaths by improving access for first responders to the overdose antidote Naloxone, supporting overdose prevention programs, enhancing surveillance of overdose occurrences, and establishing a coordinated federal plan of action to address the epidemic.

Naloxone is a medication that can reverse the effects of an overdose from opioids, including heroin and prescription painkillers, if it is administered in a timely way.  Naloxone has no side effects or potential for abuse, and is widely recognized as an important tool to help prevent drug overdose deaths.  However, many communities struggle to get naloxone to those on the front lines who need it most.  Rhode Island, Illinois, Massachusetts, and other states have been leaders in implementing programs that distribute naloxone and other similarly effective drugs to law enforcement, first responders, providers, nonprofit organizations, family, and friends.

“I applaud Senator Whitehouse and Senator Portman for their bipartisan leadership to pass this important legislation,” said Reed.  “Heroin and opioid abuse is a serious public health and safety problem and we need a comprehensive, coordinated response to this epidemic.  We also need real resources to improve addiction recovery outcomes and ensure people who need help have access to life saving treatments.  I am disappointed Republicans blocked needed funding to aid in this endeavor, but we will continue working to get the job done.”

Last Wednesday, Reed supported an amendment to provide $600 million in immediate emergency funding to fight heroin and opioid abuse nationwide, but the measure was filibustered by Republicans, falling 12 votes short of the 60 needed to overcome the procedural roadblock.

Specifically, the Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act will:

  • Expand prevention and educational efforts -- particularly aimed at teens, parents, and other caretakers -- to prevent the abuse of opioids and heroin and to promote treatment and recovery.
  • Make naloxone more widely available to law enforcement agencies and other first responders to help in the reversal of overdoses and save lives.
  • Provide resources to promptly identify and more effectively treat incarcerated individuals suffering from addiction disorders.
  • Increase the number of disposal sites for unwanted prescription medications to keep them out of the hands of children and adolescents.
  • Launch an evidence-based opioid and heroin treatment and interventions program and promote treatment best-practices throughout the country.
  • Strengthen prescription drug monitoring programs to help states monitor and track prescription drug diversion and to help at-risk individuals access services.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report showing that drug overdose-induced deaths reached a record high in 2014, with 47,000 Americans' lives being cut short.  In Rhode Island, 241 people died from overdoses in 2014, an increase from 232 fatal overdoses in 2013, according to the Rhode Island Department of Health.

Senator Reed, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, helped include a provision in last year’s Omnibus Appropriations Act to provide $7 million to fund anti-heroin task forces within the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program.  Rhode Island may compete for competitive grants from this pot of funding for improving drug prevention strategies, including investigations and activities related to stopping the distribution of heroin or unlawful diversion and distribution of prescription opioids.  The law also provides $12 million in funding for residential drug treatment, $13 million for prescription drug monitoring, and $42 million for drug courts and the CDC’s state-based anti-drug program.

The bill must now be considered and voted on by the U.S. House of Representatives.

-end-