{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/appropriations-vice-chairman-leahy-statement-at-hearing-on-va-efforts-to-prevent-and-combat-opioid-over-medication", "Appropriations Vice Chairman Leahy Statement At Hearing On VA Efforts To Prevent And Combat Opioid Over Medication", "2017-11-15", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "VT", "Patrick Leahy", "L000174", "www.leahy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "11.15.17\n\t\t\t Appropriations Vice Chairman Leahy Statement At Hearing On VA Efforts To Prevent And Combat Opioid Over Medication \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tThe opioid epidemic has reached every state \u2013 every community \u2013 in the country.\u00a0 It is impacting sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, friends and coworkers.\u00a0 And it is impacting our veterans and servicemembers. We have for over 16 years of war asked members of the active and reserve components to serve an unprecedented numbers of deployments, leaving too many veterans broken and in pain.\u00a0\r\nWhen we needed these brave men and women to return to battle, it was too easy to prescribe opioids for pain management. That practice has continued when they returned home, where the military and the VA lean far too heavily on opioids to manage pain.\u00a0\r\nIt is now an all too familiar story.\u00a0 Over-prescribing opioid medications for chronic pain opens the door to addiction, overdose and suicide risk, which devastate families and communities. According to a 2011 VA study, veterans are twice as likely to die from overdoses than the U.S. civilian population.\u00a0 Yet we continue to prescribe opioids to veterans and our active duty military at an alarming rate.\u00a0\r\nAmong veterans, the number of prescriptions written for opioid painkillers increased 77 percent between 2004 and 2012. \u00a0Beginning in 2014, the VA took common sense steps to increase patient education, provide alternative therapeutic approaches, and allow VA providers to participate in state prescription drug monitoring programs.\u00a0 The result has been more than 260,000 fewer patients receiving opioids this year, down from the 2012 peak of nearly 700,000 veterans.\u00a0 But that still leaves more than 400,000 veterans receiving opioids from VA facilities \u2013 this is unacceptable.\r\nBy continuing the over-prescription and use of these dangerous and highly addictive drugs, we are creating a unique set of problems and challenges for our Nation\u2019s veterans and our military.\u00a0 For example, half of all returning veterans suffer chronic pain, and more than 63 percent of those veterans have a mental health diagnosis.\u00a0 This means that veterans with post-traumatic stress or depression are more likely to suffer from chronic pain, increasing the risks associated with disability, psychological stress and suicide.\r\nAnd far too often this has tragic consequences.\u00a0 Mr. Simcakoski, I want to apologize that the system failed your son.\u00a0\u00a0 He deserved better. Our veterans deserve better.\r\nSome progress is being made since the Congress passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act last year. But we need to do better for our veterans by investing in treatments to manage their chronic pain other than opioids and helping those who are addicted to opioids.\u00a0\r\nI have heard from several Vermont veterans who are having difficulty accessing alternative treatments like acupuncture, chiropractic care or yoga, despite the efforts they and their doctor have made to settle on a non-opioid treatment right for them.\u00a0 It should not be easier to get a bottle of pills than it is to access the therapy you want close to home.\u00a0 That is not right.\u00a0 We also need to do more to ensure both the VA and private practices are communicating with each other about the unique needs of our veterans, so that when a veteran makes use of a program like CHOICE their history of pain management decisions is taken into account.\u00a0\r\nI am glad that we are beginning to move the conversation on opioid addiction away from incarceration.\u00a0 This is an approach I first highlighted during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2008, when the Committee went to Vermont to see how my home state is leading the Nation in addressing this disease as a national health care crisis.\u00a0\r\nOn the Senate Appropriations Committee, we are working together to provide roughly $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2018 to address the opioid crisis, an increase of more than $137 million above the President\u2019s budget request, $17 million above the House mark, and $41 million above fiscal year 2017 enacted levels.\u00a0 This subcommittee alone provides $386 million to treat and prevent opioid dependency amongst veterans.\r\nBut we clearly have much more to do.\u00a0 And we cannot continue to fail our veterans and our military.\u00a0 This hearing is just the next step \u2013 it is far from the last one.\u00a0 Since March, I have been calling for a bipartisan budget deal that would result in more money for this subcommittee to address the needs of our nation\u2019s veterans, including opioid addiction.\u00a0 I hope we can reach a deal within the week.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t Press Contact \n\t\t\t\tDavid Carle: 202-224-3693\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\t\n\t\n\t\n  \n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 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.leahy.senate.gov/press/appropriations-vice-chairman-leahy-statement-at-hearing-on-va-efforts-to-prevent-and-combat-opioid-over-medication"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2567522935569286, "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"}