Schumer pleads for feds to fund fight against heroin
CHENANGO COUNTY – Chenago’s heroin epidemic is a reflection of a larger crisis that’s spreading across the country; but the fight to stop that crisis is being dramatically underfunded, according to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer.
Schumer is calling on the federal legislature to pass funding to confront the growing heroin and opioid abuse epidemic, arguing that rhetoric simply isn’t enough. Upstate health officials, treatment providers and law enforcement agencies need more funding for prevention, treatment and emergency response programs to counter the upsurge of heroin use, and now is the time for Congress to act, he said.
Specifically, Schumer’s vying for $600 million for the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services for local governments to access for education and prevention programs.
“Every single day, lives are being snuffed out because of overdoses, and more and more people are starting to slide down the slippery slope of addiction,” Schumer said in a teleconference with reporters on Wednesday. “When you’re losing the fight, you can’t be satisfied with the status quo. You have to do a lot more. We need not just language, but dollars. We have a desperate shortage of dollars in this fight.”
Additionally, Schumer’s joining a bi-partisan push to promote the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) currently being worked on in the U.S. Senate. The bill seeks to expand availability of naloxone (which can counter the effects of heroin or opioid overdose) to law enforcement agencies and other first responders; improve prescription drug monitoring programs to track prescription drug diversion; shift resources towards identifying and treating incarcerated people who are suffering from addiction; and prohibit the Department of Education from including questions about the conviction of an applicant for the possession or sale of illegal drugs on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) financial aid form.
Heroin and opioid addiction has hit New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire especially hard, Schumer noted. According to the latest statistical data, more than 3,300 heroin and opioid related deaths have occurred in Upstate New York over the last decade.
In the Southern Tier, which encompasses Chenango County, there are 218 reported deaths from 2004-2013. The number of deaths in the Southern Tier increased from two in 2004, to 36 in 2013.
“Numbers are going up and will possibly be significantly higher in 2014 and 2015,” said Schumer. “It’s plain and simple: Either you’re for expanding access and funding for Nalaxone to prevent overdose deaths, along with other life-saving measures, or you’re against it. The endless Senate speeches and authorization bills won’t save lives, put in more beds at treatment centers to curb addiction – only emergency funding and resources to combat this crisis will do that. Congress needs to wake up and stop making excuses and pass the desperately-needed emergency funding that will really make a difference in this fight.”
Schumer is calling on the federal legislature to pass funding to confront the growing heroin and opioid abuse epidemic, arguing that rhetoric simply isn’t enough. Upstate health officials, treatment providers and law enforcement agencies need more funding for prevention, treatment and emergency response programs to counter the upsurge of heroin use, and now is the time for Congress to act, he said.
Specifically, Schumer’s vying for $600 million for the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services for local governments to access for education and prevention programs.
“Every single day, lives are being snuffed out because of overdoses, and more and more people are starting to slide down the slippery slope of addiction,” Schumer said in a teleconference with reporters on Wednesday. “When you’re losing the fight, you can’t be satisfied with the status quo. You have to do a lot more. We need not just language, but dollars. We have a desperate shortage of dollars in this fight.”
Additionally, Schumer’s joining a bi-partisan push to promote the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) currently being worked on in the U.S. Senate. The bill seeks to expand availability of naloxone (which can counter the effects of heroin or opioid overdose) to law enforcement agencies and other first responders; improve prescription drug monitoring programs to track prescription drug diversion; shift resources towards identifying and treating incarcerated people who are suffering from addiction; and prohibit the Department of Education from including questions about the conviction of an applicant for the possession or sale of illegal drugs on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) financial aid form.
Heroin and opioid addiction has hit New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire especially hard, Schumer noted. According to the latest statistical data, more than 3,300 heroin and opioid related deaths have occurred in Upstate New York over the last decade.
In the Southern Tier, which encompasses Chenango County, there are 218 reported deaths from 2004-2013. The number of deaths in the Southern Tier increased from two in 2004, to 36 in 2013.
“Numbers are going up and will possibly be significantly higher in 2014 and 2015,” said Schumer. “It’s plain and simple: Either you’re for expanding access and funding for Nalaxone to prevent overdose deaths, along with other life-saving measures, or you’re against it. The endless Senate speeches and authorization bills won’t save lives, put in more beds at treatment centers to curb addiction – only emergency funding and resources to combat this crisis will do that. Congress needs to wake up and stop making excuses and pass the desperately-needed emergency funding that will really make a difference in this fight.”
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