It’s been heartening this year to see politicians of all stripes agree on the need for action to confront the nation’s addiction epidemic. It’s a monumental — and growing — public health crisis being felt throughout this country. But lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have yet to back up support for constructive anti-addiction policies with the funds needed to actually address the problem.
Between 2000 and 2014, the rate of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. jumped 137 percent. The rise in opioid-related overdose deaths has been even more pronounced, according to CDC data. The rate of heroin overdose deaths more than tripled between 2010 and 2014.
And in 2014, the number of people who died from a drug overdose was more than 1.5 times the number of people who died in a motor vehicle crash. The nation set a record in 2014 for overdose deaths; Maine did, too, before surpassing it in 2015.
The size of the nation’s addiction problem is clear, which is why we were encouraged when the U.S. Senate passed legislation in March in a 94-1 vote that starts to address addiction for the public health problem it is. The measure was far from perfect — a task force it establishes to develop best practices for pain management and opioid prescriptions, for example, duplicates work that the CDC has already done in developing prescribing guidelines. But it was a constructive measure largely because of its emphasis on evidence-based treatment for opioid addictions.
The U.S. House showed a similar level of bipartisan support last week for a series of anti-addiction measures. The vote for one of the main pieces of legislation — which would authorize a number of anti-addiction and drug trafficking grant programs for state and local governments, nonprofit organizations and law enforcement agencies — was 413-5 on Thursday. House members followed that vote on Friday with another 400-5 show of support for anti-addiction grant programs. Maine’s representatives, Republican Bruce Poliquin and Democrat Chellie Pingree, voted in the affirmative both times.
Constructive legislation, though, will mean nothing without the funds to back it up. And the House, like the Senate, has failed to attach funding to its anti-addiction package. House Republican leaders blocked an amendment supported by Democrats that would have appropriated $600 million in funding. A similar situation played out in the Senate in March.
Instead, leaders say the funding will come later in the year during the appropriations process. But if recent history is any guide, an omnibus spending bill will come together at the last minute — potentially in the lame duck session after this fall’s elections. That means a delay for any funding ultimately appropriated to tackle a national drug crisis that shows no sign of abating. And a delay throws into doubt the prospect of Congress actually appropriating sufficient funding.
The nation’s addiction crisis will only abate with the commitment of funding — chiefly, funding to expand access to medication-assisted treatment.
President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year includes $1.1 billion, largely to grow access to evidence-based treatment for a disease that claimed nearly 29,000 lives in 2014. Republicans in the Senate, meanwhile, have shown some support for allocating $1.1 billion to prepare for a Zika outbreak. To date, the Zika virus is responsible for the loss of one American life.
It’s past time for all members of Congress to recognize addiction for the problem it is — a problem that’s larger than Zika and larger than others that have compelled emergency funding in the past — and to commit the resources needed to save more lives.
