Senate Passes Legislation To Address Opioid Crisis

On Monday, the Senate passed the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, legislation that aims to tackle the growing challenge of opioid misuse and abuse nationwide.  Washington Senator Patty Murray, has been pushing for legislation to address the growing opioid crisis.  She said this bill is the result of 70 proposals from members of both parties.

“The bill we voted on today does not reflect the full agreement struck between Democrats and Republicans.  I’m glad that Chairman Alexander and Republican leaders have worked with us as this bill hit the final stretch here in the Senate.  And they committed to a number of changes beyond the text of this bill, to make sure we could have this vote tonight and keep working to get it signed into law.”

Murray noted that opioids are attacking a wide variety of Washingtonians, from urban and rural communities alike.

“We heard about the many different faces of this epidemic and the broad challenges we have to consider to make sure we address its root causes and ripple effects.”

A 2017 survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation and National Farmers Union found that 74% of farmers and farmworkers say their life has been directly impacted by opioid abuse.

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