Rep. Susie Lee Delivers Remarks at 2019 Opioid Abuse Prevention Summit

Las Vegas, Nev. - Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.-03) delivered remarks at the 2019 Opioid Abuse Prevention Summit, hosted by the Nevada Public Health Foundation. Rep. Lee addressed members of the health community, advocates and opioid abuse experts about the problems and solutions needed to solve southern Nevada's opioid crisis.

The following is a transcript of Rep. Lee's remarks:

There are two boys who live in the same town, go to the same school. In fact, they live just a block away from one another. And they both get very sick. One of the boys has cancer. His family, his friends, the entire neighborhood know about his illness. People are asking how they can help, they bring dinners by the house, they raise money for his treatment and visit him in the hospital when things really get worse.

The other young man is sick too. But he and his family have to suffer in silence. No one comes by, no dinners, no bake sales, no visits. Instead the family has to go at it alone. Both boys are sick, the difference is that this boy's sickness is opioid addiction. Unfortunately, this young man did not survive

This is a true story. It's the story of Brian, son of Gary Mendell, the CEO of Shatterproof, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending the devastation that addiction causes families.

First, we must accept the scientific fact that addiction is a chronic disease that alters the brain. It is a disease that is preventable and treatable.

We must treat opioid addiction like the public health crisis that it is. It is now the leading cause of accidental death in the US. And it is the stigma that the Mendell's suffered and many families suffer that keeps people from seeking the treatment they need.

So, thank you for understanding that the opioid epidemic is something we can prevent and treat.

And it's why I'm thankful that groups like the Nevada Public Health Foundation, the Nevada Health and Human Services, and all the other Nevada groups and advocates are putting on important events like this. Because this crisis deserves our attention, it deserves our collective action. So thank you to everyone in this room.

At least one Nevadan loses their life to opioids every single day, and that's especially painful because we know it's preventable.

For no group of people is that more true than for our veterans. One of the most heartbreaking results of opioid abuse and addiction is suicide. And that's how Brian died. Both in our veteran population and general population, Nevada ranks right at the top of the list for both.

Opioid addiction is hitting our veteran population harder than any other, and it's largely because of how our country has decided to treat them--by throwing prescription painkiller after prescription painkiller at them rather than giving them comprehensive treatment for injuries, mental health disorders, and chronic pain. Our country is better than this. As a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, I'm working on solutions to solve this problem--from streamlining and improving health care at the VA, to increasing funding for substance abuse, alternative treatment, and mental health.

And this goes to show, for our veterans or any other group of people, that there are a number of ways to prevent and reduce opioid abuse, addiction, and death. The problem is that our communities--like southern Nevada and our rural communities--just don't have the resources or the funding to implement the solutions that we know work. Just before, I sat in on a breakout discussion group about opioids and the criminal justice system, and heard all the work being done, and solutions put forward in that area.

Well, I did something about it to get the ball rolling in Congress. The House overwhelmingly passed my bill to increase funding for the Drug-Free Communities Program, which directly invests in local community efforts to combat opioid abuse in places like southern Nevada. This grant program gets resources to the front lines of the opioid epidemic--to paramedics and first responders, schools, and organizations fighting youth drug abuse.

And while I do believe that we need to invest in local solutions, in many ways, our country as a whole needs to do better.

Just like peoples' preconceived notions about the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, there are preconceived notions about Washington D.C., and Congress in particular--mainly that Congress is consumed by partisanship and gridlock. And don't get me wrong, in so many ways, that's true, believe me.

But I'm here to give you at least a little bit of hope. I have colleagues on both sides of the aisle who understand that we have to do something about the opioid epidemic, who understand that there are people throughout the country, sons, daughters, husbands, and wives, in communities like ours, who are suffering and need their government to step up to the plate and do something.

Opioid abuse doesn't care if you live in a red state or a blue state or a purple state, and addiction does not care about the D or R next to your name on your voter registration. It's immune to partisanship, race, socioeconomic status, or zip code. So if we're going to solve this problem, we need to work together.

That's why I joined the House of Representatives Freshman Working Group on Addiction. This is a bipartisan group of 36 members of Congress, dedicated to working together to better understand the impacts of addiction and promote real policies to reduce overdoses and deaths on a federal level.

The working group has already put forward landmark legislation to combat the opioid crisis, including the State Opioid Response Grant Authorization Act. This grant program authorizes billions of dollars that go directly to opioid treatment, harm reduction, community services, and first responders dealing with overdoses and abuse on the front lines. It's solutions like this that need to be implemented if we are going to address the opioid addiction like the public health crisis it is. And this landmark legislation is necessary to fight against special interests trying to keep the status quo.

And listen, I don't have to tell you all about the power of the pharmaceutical industry and their unmatched influence in D.C. when it comes to lobbying, all with the hope that elected officials will turn a blind eye to the horrors that come from peddling their products. We need elected officials who are going to stand up to special interests, which is exactly why I joined the Freshman Working Group on Addiction.

The bottom line is if we're going to implement the change, the solutions, and the policy that are needed to prevent and combat the opioid addiction, we need Congress and every elected official to commit to our communities and to the American people, not to special interests.

It's clear that all of you in this room are committed to doing just that, and I'm here to tell you that I'm with you every step of the way.

Now I would like to welcome up to the stage our keynote speaker, who has dedicated his career to the health and well-being of not just Nevadans but all Americans. And he has helped Nevada Health and Human Services make a real difference when it comes to combating the opioid crisis. Like I said, opioid addiction and abuse is a public health crisis, and the only way to solve a public health crisis is to work together, and to have a great team from top to bottom working hard to find solutions. Well that wouldn't be possible without this man at the helm in our region. So please join me in welcoming Nevada's Health and Human Services Regional Director, Ed Heidig."

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