Dear
Friend,
It's
a
fact:
More
Americans
now
die
every
year
from
drug
overdoses
than
they
do
in
motor
vehicle
crashes.
Between
2002
and
2013,
the
number
of
heroin-related
deaths
in
America
nearly
quadrupled.
New
data
from
the
Centers
for
Disease
Control
and
Prevention
(CDC)
show
that
opioids
--
a
class
of
drugs
that
include
prescription
pain
medications
and
heroin
--
were
involved
in
over
28,000
deaths
in
2014.
That's
why,
this
week,
I
joined
Senator
Ron
Wyden,
Rep.
Earl
Blumenauer
and
doctors,
public
health
professionals
and
insurers
in
Portland
for
a
discussion
on
how
we
can
reduce
opioid
addiction
and
prescription
drug
abuse
in
Oregon.
Read
more
from
our
discussion
here
>>
Merkley.senate.gov
Heroin
and
opioid
addiction
is
devastating
Oregon's
families.
Doctors
and
nurses
see
the
wreckage
first
hand,
with
patients
pleading
for
help
to
get
off
pills.
In
fact,
about
70
percent
of
heroin
overdoses
in
Oregon
start
with
prescription
pain
pills.
As
Dr.
Paul
Lewis
said
during
our
roundtable,
"Addiction
is
a
disease,
not
a
moral
failing."
I
completely
agree.
We
need
to
treat
America's
and
Oregon's
opioid
epidemic
as
the
national
medical
emergency
it
is.
I
look
forward
to
taking
what
I
learned
this
week
back
to
Washington
to
pass
meaningful
legislation
to
expand
access
to
treatment
providers
and
to
ensure
that
all
Americans
who
need
treatment
can
get
the
help
they
need.
All
my
best,
Jeff
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