{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blunt.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/in-the-news?ContentRecord_id=73F704BE-7ACF-4264-8BAD-F588C89222E6", "Missourinet: Missouri Sen. Blunt holds hearing to explore options for fighting opioid crisis", "2017-12-06", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "MO", "Roy Blunt", "B000575", "www.blunt.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Jason Taylor \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tA panel chaired Missouri\u2019s Republican Senator Roy Blunt held a hearing on the opioid crisis Tuesday.\u00a0 Blunt identified three key proposals for battling the problem during the meeting of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies.\r\nOne path calls for finding the best option for treating an opioid use disorder.\u00a0 Blunt noted unstable mood and anxiety conditions double the risk of addiction.\r\n\u201cIf you\u2019re going to effectively address opioid addiction, we need that those suffering can access effective treatment,\u201d said Blunt.\u00a0 \u201cThat needs to include mental health services.\u201d\r\nHe also said there needs to be a concerted effort to stem the spread of addiction.\u00a0 \u201cWe need to do all we can to insure that the people we work for, the people of our states and of our country understand the real and obvious risk of taking opioids and taking them in a way that can lead to addiction.\u201d\r\nThirdly, Blunt said there need to be pain management options that don\u2019t lead to addiction.\r\nDuring the hearing, Blunt noted the death rates of all drug overdoses now rival the those of the AIDS epidemic in the 1990\u2019s.\u00a0 He also stated that opioid specific overdoses now supersede car accidents as the number one accidental cause of death in the U.S.\r\nBlunt said he and Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, have actively sought to boost funding to address the opioid epidemic.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019ve written bills that repeatedly increased the opioid funding, an increase of about $760 million, which is a 1,300 percent increase from where we were just three years ago,\u201d said Blunt.\r\nAmong those testifying at the hearing were former Democratic Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island, who is now a member of the President\u2019s Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, and Dr. Francis S. Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health.\r\nCollins noted first responders are using a new overdose antidote in emergency situations.\u00a0 He said nasal inhalants are increasingly taking the place of inject-able products.\r\n\u201cIf you look at use by first responders, the nasal version has now greatly outstripped the inject-able form in terms of what first responders now have access to,\u201d said Collins.\u00a0 \u201c(That\u2019s) in part because it\u2019s cheaper, but mostly because it\u2019s easier to administer.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t require any special treatment.\u201d\r\nCollins said nasal inhalants for overdoses cost $70, where as injectables go for roughly $4,500.\r\nClick here to read more", 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://www.blunt.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/in-the-news?ContentRecord_id=73F704BE-7ACF-4264-8BAD-F588C89222E6"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6636850778013468, "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"}