Wiping Out Addiction In Our Communities

Good morning,

As Congress breaks for yet another lengthy recess until November 14 -- right after the longest summer recess in modern history -- I wanted to share with you the progress we've made toward our goal to stamp out the opioid epidemic in our region and the work that we still have yet to do. I also want to express how frustrated I am that the Speaker of the House of Representatives has spent so little time in session getting important work done this year.

As the Vice Co-Chair of the Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus, stopping the crisis of opioid abuse in our communities is one of my top priorities. Along with funding a response to the Zika virus, mental health reform, and improving the quality of our drinking water systems, a comprehensive response to skyrocketing opioid overdoses is among the most critical public health challenges our nation must meet and overcome.

Buprenorphine is a medication used to treat opioid addiction patients. From my conversations with patients and providers alike in the Capital Region, it is also regarded as one of the most effective treatments. However, before this year, there was a very low cap on the number of patients that local health care professionals could treat. Too many patients nationwide were excluded from this treatment, including one man in Albany County who told me he was forced to postpone for more than six months his recovery from an addiction lasting his entire life -- all because he couldn't find a doctor who was under this arbitrary cap.

Among my regular meetings with the Capital Region recovery community, I met with St. Peter’s Addiction Recovery Center providers Dr. Joshua D. Zamer and Dr. Susan Ferrary in Cohoes.

This year, I was proud to work across the aisle with my colleague Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN) to craft and pass legislation that expands treatment for those suffering from opioid use disorder, helping to reduce the widespread use of painkillers in our region and across the nation. More information on this bill, the Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Expansion and Modernization Act (H.R. 4981), can be found by clicking here. This compromise legislation was born of an earlier bipartisan bill I worked on with fellow New York Representatives Brian Higgins (D-NY), Richard Hanna (R-NY), and John Katko (R-NY).

At home in the Capital Region, I asked Michael Botticelli, the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), to visit our community and hold a public forum to discuss strategies to reduce the use of opioids and other painkillers. ONDCP agreed and chose to hold that discussion in Albany, which I proudly hosted with Director Botticelli. A recap of that event can be read in the Albany Times Union and in The Saratogian.

While Congress continues to stall meaningful legislation that would overcome the major challenges before us -- repairing our water infrastructure, passing a clean energy policy, updating the Voting Rights Act, and much more -- I was proud to be a part of major progress in our goal to reduce the use of opioids and other painkillers nationwide. However, there is more work to be done. We must work to provide the resources necessary to create real hope for our communities to eradicate the opioid epidemic entirely.

Those in the recovery community are truly heroes. Bearing witness in our neighborhoods to the success stories of those who battle substance abuse -- as well as their friends and family who stand alongside them in their fight -- drives me to push for policies that will expand the opportunity of recovery for everyone.

For more information or help on substance abuse services, please call the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services at 877-8HOPENY or visit them online at https://www.oasas.ny.gov/.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Together we will win this fight.