Press Release  Bipartisan State Attorneys General Say Federal Opioid Legislation Without Treatment Funding is Empty Promise

Boston/Indianapolis — Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey today expressed disappointment in Congress’ unwillingness to provide emergency treatment funding to respond to the national opioid addiction and overdose epidemic, which today takes more lives than car accidents.

The two state attorneys general issued a joint statement after a congressional conference committee on Wednesday voted against adding emergency treatment funding as part of the Comprehensive Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act (CARA) that had passed in different versions in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate -- S. 524 and HR 953.

Health experts in the president’s administration had called for $1.1 billion in emergency funding to expand addiction treatment services and support overdose prevention programs at the state level, including efforts to increase availability of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone.

The attorneys general urged Congress to fund a proposal that will expand treatment, save lives, and help millions of Americans suffering from addiction.

“As Attorneys General we work with those on the front lines of the drug addiction epidemic that has reached a crisis point in our states,” AG Zoeller said. “The news out of Congress that they do not see this as a crisis requiring immediate action is disappointing. Legislative action without needed funding is simply an empty promise – more words without action. We can only hope that an appropriations bill, or another continuing resolution, will include the necessary funding.”

“The heroin and prescription drug crisis demands a real solution, with real money behind it,” AG Healey said. “Congress had an opportunity to save lives, and instead has opted to advance an empty bill that puts more lives as risk. This failure to act is a death sentence for those struggling with addiction and members who stood in the way of funding should be ashamed of their inaction.”

In September 2015, Zoeller and Healey joined 38 state attorneys general in a bipartisan letter urging passage of CARA, when it was originally introduced.

Without immediate treatment funding, the intent of the legislation is now neutered and undermined, Zoeller, R-Ind., and Healey, D-Mass, said. They urged members of the House-Senate conference committee to reconsider, noting the opioid addiction epidemic is no time for partisanship.

In 2014, prescription opioids accounted for 18,893 overdose related-deaths in the United States – an increase of 369% from 1999. Abuse of prescription painkillers often leads to heroin addiction. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), four out of five recent heroin users report having previously used a non-medical prescription pain reliever. And since 1999, the number of heroin overdose related-deaths has jumped 440% to 10,574 in the United States.

For information about Attorney General Zoeller’s Indiana Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force, visit www.BitterPill.IN.gov. For information on Attorney General Healey’s Opiate Task Force visit http://www.mass.gov/ago/public-safety/opioids/. 

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