Saturday, December 13, 2014
Staff report
WASHINGTON
U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, and David Joyce of Russell, R-14th, joined U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin, in introducing a bipartisan bill to help combat heroin use.
The bill provides a series of incentives and resources designed to encourage states and local communities to advance proven strategies to fight addiction.
If approved, the bill would expand prevention and education efforts β particularly aimed at teens, parents and other caretakers, and aging populations β related to the abuse of opioids and heroin and to promote treatment and recovery.
It also would expand the availability of naloxone to law-enforcement agencies and other first-responders to help in the reversal of overdoses to save lives, and strengthen prescription-drug monitoring programs to help states monitor and track prescription-drug diversion.
βThe provisions in this bill have already been shown to work, and will help us fight this epidemic by providing the tools needed by the law enforcement community and others to respond quickly and thoroughly,β Ryan said.
A companion bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate in September by five of its members, including Republican Rob Portman of the Cincinnati area.