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Reconciled Opioid Abuse Package Passes U.S. House of Representatives

July 8, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a reconciled version of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016. The bill combines recently passed, but separate, House and Senate legislative efforts to address the opioid abuse epidemic.

The reconciled package includes the Co-Prescribing to Reduce Overdoses Act (H.R. 3680), a bill authored by Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) to expand access to life-saving overdose reversal drugs, like Naloxone, by encouraging health care providers to prescribe them alongside common pain medication. These kinds of co-prescription programs are proven to slow the growth of overdose deaths.

"This bill is an important step forward in addressing the epidemic of opioid overdoes that's touched nearly every community in Maryland and across America," said Congressman Sarbanes, who served on the conference committee appointed to resolve differences between the House and Senate bills. "I look forward to continue working with a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate to ensure that our families, our communities and our health care providers have adequate resources to reverse this epidemic."

For more information about the package, see here.

Issues:Health Care