WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) applauded the passage of a bill that aims to combat the drug epidemic nationwide.
The U.S. Senate approved the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act with bipartisan support on a 94-1 vote Thursday.
The legislation supports long term recovery and works with expanded use and availability of the opiod reversal drug Naloxone. The bill also allows people that are working on prevention and education to apply for federal funding.
“We know in West Virginia we don’t have the facilities that we need,” Capito told MetroNews. “This really gives us a federal response to that.”
Both Capito and Manchin said the passage is a good first step in helping communities combat the growing drug problem, but more needs to be done.
“I am glad that my consumer education amendment to ensure that advocacy groups have access to funds they need to raise awareness about the risks of opioid addiction and overdose was included in the final bill. Unfortunately, that is just one step in the fight to stem this epidemic. We need to fight this epidemic on all fronts,” Manchin said in a news release.
Captio, along with Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), co-sponsored a separate amendment included in the bill. The measure would provide follow up services to those who have received opioid overdose reversal drugs. It would also include a provision to improve treatment programs for pregnant women and mothers who have a substance use disorder.
“Let’s have some follow up to see what’s happened to the addictive person. Are they just having another overdose? Leading to another overdose? So we can actually use the administration of Naloxone as an entry into maybe helping this person seek treatment,” Capito said.
West Virginia has some of the most overdose deaths every year, but with the amount of support the bill has received in the Senate, Capito said it’s clear substance abuse is a nationwide problem.
“Many families and communities are struggling every day with this, but it just shows that it’s not just happening in West Virginia. It’s happening everywhere,” she said.
The bill heads to the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration.
“We hope to get it to the President’s desk,” Capito said. “The President obviously knows what an issue this is. He came to West Virginia and I thought he listened very well to what our problem was.”
A drug forum was held in Charleston in Oct. 2015. President Barack Obama and other federal officials attended the event to address the epidemic.