{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20131123005042/http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=34&itemid=2333", "Wolf: Tougher Restrictions Needed On Prescription Painkillers", "2013-10-30", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Frank Wolf", "W000672", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Contact: Jill Shatzen  \n\t(202) 225-5136\n\n\tWOLF: TOUGHER RESTRICTIONS NEEDED ON PRESCRIPTION PAINKILLERS\n\n\tWashington, D.C. (October 30, 2013) \u2013 Continuing his efforts to fight prescription drug abuse, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) today joined 28 of his colleagues in urging the Secretary of Health and Human Services to put tighter controls on highly addictive pain medications.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n\n\tIn a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, the group said the secretary should immediately adopt the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s (FDA) recommendation to regulate prescription painkillers using the active ingredient hydrocodone.\u00a0 The change would reclassify hydrocodone from a Schedule III to a Schedule II drug, putting it in the same category as other opioid painkillers like OxyContin.\n\n\t\u201cAddressing prescription drug abuse needs to be a priority,\u201d Wolf said.\u00a0 \u201cThese tighter controls would recognize the powerful and addictive nature of these medications that can cause substantial unintended damage if they are not used properly.\u201d\n\n\tThe FDA recommendations for hydrocodone painkillers mirror the Safe Prescribing Act (H.R. 1285), legislation that Wolf has cosponsored this Congress.\u00a0 In fact, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has also supported this change for nearly 20 years.\u00a0 Wolf chaired a Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations subcommittee hearing in April where DEA Administrator Michelle Leohart said that she supports the reclassification of hydrocodone medications.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n\n\tAdditionally, The Washington Post recently editorialized its support for reclassifying hydrocodone as a Schedule II drug.\u00a0\n\n\tWolf has long worked to stem prescription drug abuse, especially the problem of pill mills, pain clinics serving as fronts for the illegal distribution of painkillers.\u00a0 He has also worked with the DEA to coordinate nationwide prescription drug \u201ctake-back\u201d initiatives where people can return unwanted drugs for proper disposal.\n\n\tThe full text of the letter is below.\u00a0\n\n\tThe Honorable Kathleen Sebelius\n\tSecretary\n\tDepartment of Health and Human Services\n\t200 Independence Avenue, S.W.\n\tWashington, DC\u00a0 20201\n\n\t\u00a0\n\n\tDear Secretary Sebelius:\n\n\tWe are writing to urge you to immediately adopt the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s (FDA) recommendation to place tighter controls on prescription painkillers using the active ingredient hydrocodone.\u00a0 This change mirrors legislation we introduced on March 20, 2013 to reschedule hydrocodone combination drugs from a Schedule III to a Schedule II drug \u2013 making them more difficult to prescribe and obtain.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\n\n\tPrescription drug abuse continues to wreak havoc on countless families and communities throughout our nation. \u00a0This epidemic has reached such violent proportions that fatal drug overdoses now outweigh the total number of traffic fatalities in this country.\u00a0 Products containing hydrocodone, such as Lortab and Vicodin, are fueling this scourge.\u00a0 These drugs are now the most widely prescribed painkillers in the U.S.\u00a0 \u00a0\n\n\tOn a dose by dose analysis, hydrocodone is comparable in both potency and potential for abuse to oxycodone, a Schedule II drug. While almost every opioid painkiller is placed in Schedule II, hydrocodone combination products are conspicuously missing from this list.\u00a0\u00a0 \n\n\tThat is why we introduced the Safe Prescribing Act of 2013 (H.R. 1285) to correct this misclassification, a change the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has supported for nearly 20 years.\u00a0Reclassifying hydrocodone combination drugs to a Schedule II would limit how much hydrocodone a patient can receive in between doctor visits and would require written prescriptions.\u00a0 Our legislation has received widespread support from law enforcement, the medical community and addiction advocates.\u00a0 Dr. Andrew Kolodny, President of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, said our bill will \u201ccorrect an error made over 40 years ago when the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) incorrectly classified hydrocodone combination products.\u00a0 There is clear and convincing medical evidence that hydrocodone has the same abuse liability as the Schedule II opioids.\u201d\n\n\tRescheduling of hydrocodone combination drugs alone is not enough to end the scourge, and we need to ensure that any changes protect the ability of patients with a legitimate medical need to access these medications. \u00a0But regulating these potent narcotics in an appropriate manner could go a long way toward combating a national epidemic.\u00a0 We have heard too many stories of a father who started taking painkillers for a bad back only to overdose a few years later.\u00a0 We have heard of too many teenagers who failed to grasp the potency of these narcotics and whose lives were cut far too short.\n\n\tOn February 28, 2012, you testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that \u201cthe data is enormously alarming -- prescription drugs have now outpaced criminal drugs in terms of over abuse, and deaths, and injuries.\u201d\u00a0 We simply cannot wait any longer to act.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n\n\tWe urge you to immediately accept the FDA\u2019s recommendation in the name of every man, woman and child who has endured the horrors of prescription drug abuse.\n\n\tSincerely, \n\n\t\u00a0\n\n\t\u00a0\n\n\tMembers of Congress", 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://web.archive.org/web/20131123005042/http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=34&itemid=2333"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8516809903085232, "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"}