Congressman Trone Speaks on Bipartisan Panel At National Opioid Summit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2023
Contact: Sasha Galbreath, Sasha.Galbreath@mail.house.gov
Congressman Trone Speaks on Bipartisan Panel At National Opioid Summit
Congressman Trone speaks on panel focused on federal policy with (from left) Reps. Matt Cartwright, Buddy Carter, and Hal Rogers
Atlanta, GA — This week, U.S. Congressman David Trone (D-MD) attended the 2023 Rx and Illicit Drug Summit, which featured a congressional panel led by U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), Dean of the House. Trone and Rogers were also joined by Congressmen Buddy Carter (R-GA) and Matt Cartwright (D-PA) to discuss federal policy and legislation that can help save lives. Every year, the Rx Summit brings together thousands of stakeholders across the country to learn the latest strategies for prevention, treatment, and recovery.
Since 1999, over one million Americans have died from drug overdoses. Even worse, Stanford estimates that another 1.2 million will die from drug overdoses this decade alone. Trone is committed to combating both the supply and demand of opioids in American communities with data-driven, common-sense policy.
“With millions of lives on the line, we must continue to fight for progress from the local to federal level. We need to fight this crisis at every angle, and in Congress we’re working to do just that,” said Congressman Trone. “But we need those of you on the front lines of this epidemic to bring your ideas to us. This has to be a comprehensive partnership for us to truly succeed.”
Trone is a founding member of the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force, which introduced over 100 bills and passed 26 of them into law during the last Congress.
“I applaud our heroes at the border and our U.S. Coast Guard for being our first line of defense against drug trafficking,” said Congressman Rogers. “I cosponsored the HALT Act to permanently schedule fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs under the Controlled Substance Act, giving law enforcement the tools they need to bring justice in these cases.”
“If we lost 200 people in an airplane crash, we would stop every plane from flying right now and figure out what went wrong. Yet we continue to lose 200 people every day to fentanyl poisoning. This has to stop and we have to secure the southern border,” said Congressman Carter. “We have to make sure that we have programs that work. Fentanyl poisoning is the number one cause of death for people ages 18 to 45.”
“These veteran treatment courts and drug treatment courts divert eligible offenders from incarceration to court-supervised treatment programs that integrate substance use disorder treatment, mandatory drug testing, incentives, sanctions, and recovery support services. It’s a wonderful use of resources,” said Congressman Cartwright. “In 2020, prescription opioids were to blame for 24 percent of all opioid overdose deaths, so it’s obvious there’s more work to be done. I’ve been forwarding the Addiction Prevention and Responsible Opioid Practices Act. It’s a bill that takes a comprehensive approach to opioid abuse disorder before it starts by reigning in what we think is an excessive volume of addictive opioids on the market.”
Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Appropriations, Budget, and Joint Economic Committees in the 118th Congress. In Congress, Trone is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the mental health and addiction crises, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research.
Follow Congressman Trone at @RepDavidTrone for updates on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
###
