{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://guthrie.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=390958", "ICYMI: Guthrie Continues Leading Effort to Combat Illicit Drugs That Harm American Communities", "2026-03-31", "2026", "2026-03", "Republican", "House", "KY", "Brett Guthrie", "G000558", "guthrie.house.gov", "guthrie", "https://guthrie.house.gov/news", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, continued his efforts to counter the devastation in American communities that has been caused by the distribution and use of illicit drugs.\n\nLast week, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health conducted a legislative hearing titled Policies to Protect Our Communities from Illicit Drug Threats. It focused on over one dozen bills that aim to crack down on illicit drug threats facing our nation. By examining the supply chain dynamics of these drugs and their precursors, in addition to looking at new and emerging illicit drug threats, the subcommittee took a comprehensive look at the crisis that has ravaged communities and killed hundreds of thousands of Americans for decades.\n\nThis hearing built upon the work Chairman Guthrie and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce have done throughout the 119th Congress to prevent overdose death and support those battling addiction; including the passage of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act and HALT Fentanyl Act \u2013 both of which were signed into law by President Trump last year.\n\nAdditional information about this hearing can be found HERE.\n\nYou can watch the full subcommittee hearing HERE.\n\nChairman Guthrie\u2019s Opening Statement, as Prepared for Delivery:\n\n\u201cThank you, Chairman Griffith. And thank you to all of the witnesses for being here.\n\n\u201cToday, we will hear from a diverse panel about existing and emerging drug threats and discuss policies designed to help keep our communities safe.\n\n\u201cThese drug threats continue to evolve from opioids like oxycodone and heroin, to illicit fentanyl\u2014to now\u2014the prevalence of nitazenes, as well as synthetic 7-OH, known as \u2018gas station heroin.\u2019\n\n\u201cBad actors are using illicit pill presses and fentanyl to make pills including punches and dyes imprinting logos onto those pills, making them look like legitimate prescription medication.\n\n\u201cJust last week, DEA announced a significant seizure in my home state of Kentucky from this past January. The DEA seized approximately 17 kilograms of fentanyl, two industrial grade pill presses, and two kilo-brick presses. According to DEA, this seizure prevented almost 9 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl from reaching our communities.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m proud of the work we\u2019ve done in this Committee to crack down on the influx of illicit drugs and to uplift individuals and families struggling with substance use disorders\u2014like getting the HALT Fentanyl Act and the SUPPORT Act signed into law\u2014but there is still work to be done to ensure law enforcement can adequately detect and combat the proliferation and distribution of deadly substances. I\u2019m thankful to my colleagues who are leading on these efforts.\n\n\u201cWe have bills like the Combatting Illicit Xylazine Act to permanently place xylazine into schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act while ensuring veterinarians, farmers, and ranchers can continue to administer the sedative to animals, and the STOP Nitazenes Act to permanently place the drug class of nitazenes into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.\n\n\u201cFurther, the END 7-OH Act would place synthetic 7-OH into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, and we\u2019ll consider a range of bills aimed at cracking down on the illicit distribution of pill press machines.\n\n\u201cWe must work to advance policies that ensure those who make, import, and distribute these poisons in our communities are brought to justice on behalf of the families who have experienced so much pain already, and to help those with substance use disorders find treatment and recovery so we can save lives in the future.\n\n\u201cI thank the witnesses for their participation and look forward to today\u2019s discussion. I yield back.\u201d", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"]], "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://guthrie.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=390958"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.013847067952156, "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"}