Advertisement

Vern Buchanan: Common sense bills to fight heroin epidemic

 
Chairman Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., chats with Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, during a House Human Resources Subcommittee hearing on May 18 about the heroin epidemic and parental substance abuse.
Chairman Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., chats with Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, during a House Human Resources Subcommittee hearing on May 18 about the heroin epidemic and parental substance abuse.
Published May 26, 2016

Drug overdose deaths in America now kill more people than car accidents.

The deadly growth of the heroin epidemic is clear here in Florida, where heroin overdose deaths have increased 900 percent since 2010.

Sadly, our community is the epicenter of Florida's heroin crisis. Manatee County saw more heroin deaths per capita than any other county in Florida in 2014.

Far too many people in our community have watched their loved ones struggle with drug abuse and its deadly consequences. The specter of addiction has become a nightmare for our friends, families and neighbors as those we love are lost to this disease.

But now, there is some good news to report: Congress has recently taken a major step forward to confront this growing epidemic.

This month a landmark anti-drug package of 18 bills, including legislation I co-sponsored, passed the U.S. House with overwhelming bipartisan support.

These bills will make it easier to prosecute foreign drug kingpins and cut off the flow of drugs into the country, ensure that innocent babies born addicted to drugs get the care they need, prevent the over-prescription of painkillers to veterans seeking care, and give communities resources for education, prevention and treatment.

The next step is for the House and Senate to come together to pass a final bill.

Every day we delay acting to curb this crisis more of our loved ones are lost. We need to get this to the president's desk as soon as possible.

But no one should believe that these bills are a cure-all. Much work remains to be done.

We must recognize the toll that addiction takes on loved ones, particularly children. That's why I recently held a hearing in Washington to examine how the heroin crisis is hurting kids. The effects of this epidemic on children are overlooked far too often. Drug use rips apart families, and young children can be exposed to traumatic events that shape their lives for the worse.

In fact, parental substance abuse is driving an increase in the number of children in foster care. Of the more than 350,000 children found to be victims of abuse or neglect in 2014, more than one in four – almost 100,000 kids – had caregivers with drug abuse problems.

The hearing included several witnesses who shared how their organizations are taking proactive steps to keep families intact while protecting young children. We heard testimony from Eckerd Kids, a Hillsborough County nonprofit that uses data to predict when kids in the child welfare system are vulnerable and takes parental substance abuse into account when identifying at-risk children. This allows caseworkers to immediately respond to emerging threats, before a child is harmed by a parent.

Spend your days with Hayes

Spend your days with Hayes

Subscribe to our free Stephinitely newsletter

Columnist Stephanie Hayes will share thoughts, feelings and funny business with you every Monday.

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

They've used this approach in Hillsborough County to great effect. In the years their method has been used in Hillsborough, no kids have died from maltreatment while in the child welfare system. That is a marked improvement from the prior three-year period, which saw nine children in the system die from intentionally inflicted injuries — including one tragic case in which a 4-month-old baby was thrown out of a moving car on the interstate.

This is what Congress should encourage: common-sense measures that have a proven track record of protecting children and helping families. Congress just came together to work on strong anti-heroin bills, so it's is my hope that we can also work in a bipartisan manner to protect children born to parents who use drugs.

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Longboat Key Republican serving his fifth term, represents the 16th Congressional District, which includes Sarasota and Bradenton.