{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://buchanan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/buchanan-co-sponsors-bill-combat-vets-suicides", "Buchanan Co-sponsors Bill to Combat Vets Suicides", "2017-12-11", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "FL", "Vern Buchanan", "B001260", "buchanan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Veterans\u00a0Twice as\u00a0Likely to Die from\u00a0Opioids as\u00a0Civilians\nWASHINGTON\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Congressman Vern Buchanan announced today that he has co-sponsored legislation to study the link between prescription painkillers and an alarmingly high rate of suicides\u00a0among\u00a0veterans.\u00a0\nVeterans\u00a0are twice as likely as civilians to die from overdoses of opioid painkillers.\u00a0The Veterans Overmedication Prevention Act\u00a0would require the Veterans Affairs Department to review the deaths of all veterans treated by the VA who died by suicide or from a drug overdose in the last five years.\u00a0\n\u201cThe high rates of suicide and drug overdose deaths in the veteran community are unacceptable,\u201d Buchanan said. \u201cThis legislation is critical to learning if prescription drugs, specifically opioid painkillers, are a contributing factor in suicide-related deaths among veterans.\u201d\nThe bill, introduced by Rep. Mike Coffman, R-CO, specifically calls for a listing of \u201cany medications that carried a black box warning, were prescribed for off-label use, were psychotropic, or carried warnings that include suicidal ideation.\u201d\u00a0The new information will be used to better treat veterans suffering from mental and physical injuries sustained as a result of their service.\u00a0\nShockingly, 20 veterans commit suicide every day according to the VA, accounting for 18 percent of all U.S. suicides. Florida has the third-highest number of veterans in the country, with 1.5 million.\nBuchanan has been an active leader in confronting the opioid crisis in Florida. His district is the epicenter of Florida\u2019s drug problems and he successfully fought for federal anti-drug funds that were recently distributed to the Suncoast region. In response to Buchanan\u2019s inquiries, the\u00a0VA released information\u00a0on missing or stolen drugs at five Florida facilities in April.\nBuchanan represents more than 88,000 veterans in Southwest Florida. He\u00a0served six years in the Michigan Air National Guard and four years on the House\u00a0Veterans\u00a0Affairs Committee.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://buchanan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/buchanan-co-sponsors-bill-combat-vets-suicides"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.642988994717598, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}