Senate Passes Broad Bill to Combat Drug Abuse

Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, spent weeks promoting the anti-drug measure on the Senate floor after seeing opioid-related crime and addiction soar in her state.
By frank

WASHINGTON — Responding to an urgent drug crisis that has contributed to more American deaths than car crashes, the Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a broad drug treatment and prevention bill, the largest of its kind since a law in 2008 that mandated insurance coverage for addiction treatment.


“This is big and significant,” said Marvin Ventrell, the executive director of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers. “It had legs and interest because of the opioid crisis that has hit Middle America.”

The bill — which passed 94 to 1 — is a boon for Republican senators in swing states, which have been hit particularly hard by the drug crisis. Senators Rob Portman of Ohio and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, both Republicans, spent weeks promoting the measure on the floor after seeing opioid-related crime and addiction soar in their states.

Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, was the only no vote.

It was threatened by Democrats who were angered that Republicans turned away an accompanying measure to provide $500 million in extra funding to pay for what the bill authorizes.

“What good are additional programs if they aren’t adequately funded?” asked Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania. “We can’t ask medical professionals to do more to treat addiction if they don’t have the resources.” (Mr. Portman and Ms. Ayotte were among five Republicans to vote for the extra funding measure.)

But in the end, the bill was considered too urgent to dismiss over a funding fight.

While meaningful bipartisan legislation in the Senate is about as rare as a spoon-billed sandpiper these days, Republicans and Democrats have found common ground over the last year on criminal justice and mental health issues.

The House has been working on the drug issue and is expected to have legislation on the floor this spring.

The epidemic “is probably one of the most pressing public health issues facing American families across the country,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, one of dozens of senators who came to the Senate floor to praise the bill, which was sponsored by Mr. Portman and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island.


Graphic | How the Epidemic of Drug Overdose Deaths Ripples Across America Drug deaths have surged in nearly every U.S. county, reaching a new peak in 2014.
In contrast, Ms. Murkowski’s bipartisan energy bill has been held up for weeks by Democrats over a similar funding fight, in that case for money to help the city of Flint, Mich., recover from its tainted-water crisis.

The drug crisis has become increasingly pervasive, and in places rarely associated with issues like opioid addiction. An epidemic of abuse of prescription painkillers and heroin — often abused when the prescription drugs run out — has swept the United States, with overdose deaths quadrupling since the late 1990s.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose was the leading cause of injury death in 2013 — the most recent date available — among American 25 to 64 years old, surpassing deaths caused by motor vehicle traffic crashes; 71 percent involved opioid painkillers.

Some public health experts have bemoaned the lack of federal response and have argued that the Food and Drug Administration has exacerbated the problem by continuing to approve new opioids in a market already flooded with them.

The treatment and prevention action has largely been at the state level. Some states, like Florida, which have passed such laws, have seen a decline in opiate-related deaths.

“We really haven’t seen major legislation in this space for well over a decade,” said Daniel Raymond, policy director of the