Pubdate: Thu, 28 Apr 2016
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2016 Associated Press
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Alan Fram, Associated Press

HOUSE PANEL APPROVES DRUG-ABUSE LEGISLATION

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House Judiciary Committee took an election-year 
swipe Wednesday at the nation's growing drug addiction problem, 
approving federal grants that would bolster state and local efforts 
against the abuse of opioid painkillers.

The bipartisan measure sailed through the Judiciary panel by voice 
vote. Its easy approval contrasted with recent clashes between the 
two parties over President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick 
Garland, and administration efforts to win quick emergency spending 
to combat the zika virus and fix the lead-poisoned water supply of Flint, Mich.

The legislation was among a pile of bills House panels are 
considering targeting drug abuse, a major concern among voters in the 
Northeast, South, and Midwest, where the federal Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention say the problem is most pronounced. House 
leaders plan to bring the measures to the floor next month.

The chief focus of the Judiciary committee bill is the illegal use of 
opioids, a class of drugs that includes heroin and legal but 
potentially addictive narcotics often prescribed as painkillers. 
These include morphine, codeine, hydrocodone and oxycodone.

The Centers for Disease Control says nearly 500,000 people died from 
opioid and other drug overdoses between 2000 and 2014. That includes 
a record 47,000 deaths in 2014, of which 6 in 10 involved opioids.

The Judiciary committee measure would establish federal grants that 
state and local governments could use for their pick of law 
enforcement, training, treatment, or prescription-drug monitoring 
programs to combat opioid abuse. The grants would total $103 million 
annually over the next five years, but the actual amounts provided 
would be decided by Congress in later spending legislation.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom