Senator Portman’s Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act will do more than help those in recovery find the treatment and care that they need. CARA will also ensure that federal resources are devoted to education and prevention efforts that target the demand side of this epidemic. Through the input of experts, those who deal with the problem of addiction every day and those who are in recovery, CARA has been designed to help prevent drug addiction before it ever takes root.

Dr. Cheryl Healton, testifying before the committee, thanked Portman for his work to address the drug epidemic: “You are to be commended for all the work that you have done. I’ve been following your career on this issue for decades and thank you for everything you have done because people have to step up to this problem even though the room is empty, and you have been with the problem for a long time.”

Video of Portman’s and Dr. Healton’s remarks can be found here and excerpts of Portman’s remarks are below.

“It’s demand. I agree the price of heroin is too low and I agree that we should be doing more to deal with that and stop the fentanyl from coming and so on, but folks, if we don’t get at the demand side it’ll be something else next.

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“I do think CARA, this Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, is a really good step in the right direction. It focuses on what you all are talking about today.

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“I talk to my prosecutors back home and they say that 80% of the crime is related to opioid addiction. 80% of the crime. So it affects every emergency room, every firehouse.

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“Ultimately, we’re not going to solve it until we get to the demand side… It’s like we’ve got a fire right now. We’ve got to put out the fire. That means better treatment, more treatment options, better recovery, evidence-based and helping some of these people whose lives are just being destroyed by this grip of addiction, this really difficult grip of opioids, to get back on their feet.”

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