House passes 25 bills to fight opioid addiction and overdoses

(Worthy News) - The House has passed 25 bills to combat rising drug-related deaths from opioids, including prescription painkillers and heroin.

The chamber will continue to weigh other anti-opioid legislation during the next two weeks. The issue has received bipartisan support amid overwhelming death tolls in lawmakers' home states. More than 42,000 people died from opioids in 2016, according to the latest-available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Individually, these bills target some key aspects of the opioid crisis, such as how we boost our prevention efforts and how we better protect our communities," said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, chairman of the Health Subcommittee. "Taken together, these bills are real solutions that will change how we respond to this crisis, and make our states and local communities better equipped in the nationwide efforts to stem this tide." [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More...) ]