Baltimore Congressional Delegation Announce New Federal Effort to Reduce Opioid Abuse in Maryland and Across America

(Baltimore, MD) – Congressmen C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, Elijah Cummings and John Sarbanes (all D-MD) on Monday were joined by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake and City Health Commission Dr. Leana Wen in announcing a new package of bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives to address the national opioid abuse and overdose epidemic. In all, the House passed 17 bipartisan bills last week that will expand access to overdose reversal drugs, reevaluate best practices for pain management and examine over-prescription of opioids to student athletes and veterans, among other measures.

Baltimore has the highest per capita heroin addiction rate in the country, with more than 19,000 active users, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Misuse of and addiction to prescription opioids is also increasing at staggering rates across the country.

“I have personally heard from families from all walks of life throughout my district who have been devastated by heroin and prescription drugs – no socio-economic level is safe,” Congressman Ruppersberger said. “And while these bills will help, this trend will not change by simply authorizing new grant programs, studies and reports. Congress now needs to fund these tools.”

“Growing up in Baltimore, I saw the destructive nature of opioid and heroin addiction, which destroys lives and tears apart families and communities,” said Congressman Cummings. “We can no longer afford to ignore this public health and safety crisis.  While I fully support the package of opioid bills passed by the House of Representatives as a first step, it will take actual funding to attack this crisis—funding that these bills unfortunately do not provide.  Last week I introduced legislation to give our partners on the frontlines the funding they need to fight this epidemic by supporting treatment and recovery, as well as programs to monitor and disrupt the flow of opioids into our communities.”

“The opioid epidemic has touched nearly every community in Maryland and around the country,” said Congressman Sarbanes, who sponsored the Co-Prescribing to Reduce Overdoses Act. “Last week, the House of Representatives took an important step in addressing this crisis by expanding patient access to lifesaving treatment programs. But we have to do more. We must invest additional federal resources to find and expand treatment programs that work – programs like those offered by IBR right here in Baltimore.”

“In Baltimore, we have been at the forefront of fighting this epidemic for decades and we commend our Congressional delegation on helping pass this legislation to support communities like Baltimore across the country,” said Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen. “While we have made significant strides around the disease of addiction—we cannot continue to make progress without also providing funding for quality, on-demand treatment. By continuing to work with our federal leaders to invest in treatment, we can truly address this public health emergency and save the lives of thousands of Baltimoreans."

"I see every day in my clinic that effective addiction treatment saves lives,” said Dr. Yngvild Olsen, Medical Director, REACH Health Services. “But there are so many more people out there, not just in Baltimore, but all across Maryland and this country, who cannot access needed care. The legislation moving forward in Congress is a desperately needed step in the right direction."

In all, the House of Representatives last week passed:

• H.R. 5046, Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act
• H.R. 4641, Establishing An Inter-Agency Task Force on Best Practices for Pain Management
• H.R. 4063, Jason Simcakoski PROMISE Act,
• H.R. 4985, Kingpin Designation Improvement Act
• H.R. 5048, Good Samaritan Assessment Act
• H.R. 5052, Opioid Program Evaluation (OPEN) Act
• H.R. 4843, Improving Safe Care for the Prevention of Infant Abuse and Neglect Act
• H.R. 4978, Nurturing and Supporting Healthy Babies Act
• H.R. 3680, Co-Prescribing to Reduce Overdoses Act
• H.R. 3691, Improving Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women Act 
• H.R. 1818, Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act 
• H.R. 4969, John Thomas Decker Act
• H.R. 4586, Lali’s Law
• H.R. 4599, Reducing Unused Medications Act
• H.R. 4976, Opioid Review Modernization Act
• H.R. 4982, Examining Opioid Treatment Infrastructure Act
• H.R. 4981, Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Expansion and Modernization Act