Share:
House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 19, 2015 10:05 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Maria P. Donatucci |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Joint Resolution: Heroin and Opioids Addiction Eradication and Treatment Committee |
| In the near future, I will introduce a joint resolution urging the General Assembly to immediately appoint Representatives and Senators to a bipartisan, geographic diverse committee, to be known as the “Heroin and Opioids Addiction Eradication and Treatment Committee.” Briefly, the primary purpose of the Committee would be to examine the rise in the use of heroin and other opioids (including prescription opiate abuse) in the Commonwealth and develop recommendations for treating and preventing addiction. It is the intent that the Committee examine the heroin epidemic as a public health crisis, study issues associated with the increase in heroin and opioid use, and solicit input from the drug addiction prevention and treatment community, medical experts, and other stakeholders about addiction prevention and treatment. The Committee will be tasked further with studying other states’ policies and activities, consulting with law enforcement, and proposing a series of recommendations; which will be used to develop legislation. As many of you know, heroin and opioid use in the Commonwealth has reached epidemic proportions. For instance, in its September 2014 report, entitled Heroin: Combating this Growing Epidemic in Pennsylvania, the Center for Rural Pennsylvania opined that “the rise of heroin and opioid abuse in Pennsylvania has no geographic boundaries, and crosses all socioeconomic groups, all ages and all races.” Another 2014 report, authored by the PA State Coroners Association, revealed 45 reported heroin deaths in the Commonwealth in 2009 and 124 reported heroin deaths by mid-2013; a 175.5 percent increase in heroin deaths over 3.5 years. I feel that it is of the upmost importance that we, as Legislators, immediately develop recommendations that can be drafted as legislation to help break the addiction stranglehold that heroin has on many Pennsylvanians and punish individuals who peddle heroin and other controlled substances in our communities statewide. Accordingly, I thank you in advance for joining me as a sponsor of this joint resolution. |
Introduced as HR363