WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the support of U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), the U.S. Senate today passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), legislation that will help fight back against the opioid and heroin crisis raging across Maine and the nation. The legislation, which passed the House last week and includes several provisions backed by Senator King, now heads to the President’s desk for his signature to become law.

In a statement following the vote, Senator King applauded the Senate for its work but said that more must be done because CARA does not actually appropriate any new funding to stem the epidemic. Earlier today, Senator King called on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to schedule a vote on legislation he offered with Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) that would immediately provide $600 million to states across the country to battle the crisis.

            “There’s no question that this legislation and the policy changes it enacts are a significant and important step forward – but it can’t be our last,” Senator King said. “What is happening across Maine – the overdoses, the deaths, the broken families, the struggling communities – demands more from us. It demands real funding right now. Without it, we’re failing to meet our obligation to stand by our friends and neighbors in fighting this epidemic. I am pleased the Senate passed this bill, but I hope we will back it up with actual money – not just talk – because this is about saving peoples’ lives.”

Today, the Senate passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which Senator King cosponsored, by an overwhelming vote of 92-2. The legislation provides for a community-based response to heroin and opioid addiction that incorporates law enforcement, the criminal justice system, the public health system, and the recovery support community. It includes several provisions backed by Senator King including:

• Elements of the Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment (TREAT) Act that would allow nurse practitioners and physician assistants who are trained and who meet other criteria to obtain a federal license for providing buprenorphine therapy (also called suboxone). Senator King is a cosponsor of the TREAT Act, which would expand access to this potentially life-saving therapy.

• Elements of the Nurturing and Supporting (NAS) Healthy Babies Act, legislation Senator King introduced with Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) that directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine the rising rate and treatment costs of neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, a withdrawal condition in newborns often caused by the prenatal use of opioids in pregnant women.

More generally the legislation would also:

• Expand prevention and educational efforts to prevent the abuse of opioids and heroin and to promote treatment and recovery.

• Expand the availability of opioid overdose reversal medicine like naloxone to first responders to help in the reversal of overdoses to save lives.

• Expand disposal sites for unwanted prescription medications to keep them out of the hands of our children and adolescents.

• Launch an evidence-based opioid and heroin treatment and intervention program.  While we have medications that can help treat addiction, there is a critical need to get the training and resources necessary to expand treatment best practices throughout the country.

• Strengthen prescription drug monitoring programs to help states monitor and track prescription drug diversion and to help at-risk individuals access services.

The legislation passed today is the final version of CARA that was the product of negotiations between House and Senate leaders to reconcile differences in the bills passed by both chambers earlier this year.

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