WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the Senate considers legislation to combat the opioid and heroin epidemic, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) this morning spoke from the Senate floor to share with the nation the heartbreaking story of Garrett Brown, a young man from central Maine who struggled with drug addiction. Garrett, whose story was recently chronicled by Erin Rhoda in the Bangor Daily News, long fought drug addiction before ultimately losing his life to a heroin overdose in November 2015. In his remarks, Senator King called on the Senate to learn from Garrett’s struggle and to take action to help ensure that anyone fighting substance abuse have the resources they need to take steps towards recovery.

“This is a tragedy. It’s not a tragedy of numbers. It’s a tragedy of real people. It’s a tragedy of young lives lost, treasure squandered, and of hearts broken,” Senator King said. “I have never in my adult life seen a problem like this that’s facing my state. We can’t solve it all at once. There’s no magic wand, but if we find young people like Garrett who are ready to take a step toward recovery, we need to meet them halfway – by the support of treatment, by the support of creating options, by understanding the relationship between addiction and the criminal justice system, and ultimately by loving our neighbors. I hope that we can start this week to change that trajectory that’s breaking so many hearts in this country, and we can make a difference – not for Garrett – but for the young people to whom he was desperately sending this message. We can, we should, and we shall.”

In sharing Garrett’s story, Senator King emphasized the tragic toll that the drug epidemic is taking on Maine families and communities. He discussed the importance of law enforcement and also underscored the vital need to provide a greater array of treatment options for those fighting addiction, calling the status quo “grossly inadequate.”

“This is a wonderful Maine kid – eight years old, happy, with his backpack on, ready to go to school,” Senator King said, referring to a photo of Garrett as a young boy. “He had a Mom who loved him, but he had a system that failed him. He took responsibility, but when he took responsibility, we didn’t provide the means for him to effectuate that and save his own life. The greatest tragedy is when we have someone who is suffering from addiction who wants treatment and is ready to take the step and say I need it, and there is no place to go.”

Senator King shared Garrett’s story as the Senate today continues to consider the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, legislation cosponsored by Senator King that would provide for a community-based response to heroin and opioid addiction that involves law enforcement, the criminal justice system, the public health system and the recovery support community. More specifically, the legislation would:

·         Expand prevention and educational efforts – particularly aimed at teens, parents and other caretakers, and aging populations – to prevent the abuse of opioids and heroin and to promote treatment and recovery.

·         Expand the availability of naloxone to law enforcement agencies and other first responders to help in the reversal of overdoses to save lives.

·         Expand resources to identify and treat incarcerated individuals suffering from addiction disorders promptly by collaborating with criminal justice stakeholders and by providing evidence-based treatment.

·         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 interventions 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.

Senator King has offered several amendments to the legislation, including a measure to improve care for babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome from exposure to opioids during pregnancy, and another that would amend outdated Medicaid policy to expand access to substance abuse treatment. He also plans to support an amendment that would appropriate $600 million in emergency funding to address the heroin and opioid epidemic through programs at the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Senator King has made tackling the opioid and heroin epidemic one of his top priorities in the Senate. He has held three roundtables – one in Portland, one in Brewer, and one in Bangor – focusing on different aspects of the problem. He has also introduced several pieces of legislation to address it, has questioned top Administration officials about efforts to fight it, and called on the President to pledge more funding towards it, which the President did.

From 2002 to 2013, opioid-related deaths have quadrupled nationally according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In Maine, the overall number of drug overdose deaths last year was projected to exceed the previous year, when 208 people died of overdoses – the worst year on record, according to the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

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