As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) said that research, innovation, partnerships, and real-time data are key to the nation overcoming other unprecedented public health challenges, particularly those related to substance abuse and mental health.
“Even before the pandemic, we knew the need to address mental health and substance use disorders was dire,” said Sen. Burr during the March 23 Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing, “Strengthening Federal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Programs: Opportunities, Challenges, and Emerging Issues.”
“As we look to reauthorize a number of these programs, we face a problem that has been compounded by the pandemic, but can be informed by our COVID-19 response,” said Sen. Burr, ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee. “Today’s hearing will help us determine how to apply these lessons and these actions to the mental health and substance use challenge that continues to devastate our communities.”
For instance, in 2020, Sen. Burr said the number of young people seeking care for their mental health in an emergency room increased by 31 percent. And between 2016 and 2020, the number of children experiencing depression increased by 27 percent, while the number of children experiencing anxiety increased by 29 percent.
“Last year, more than 100,000 people lost their lives to a drug overdose, a nearly 30 percent increase from the year before,” he said. “Two-thirds of these deaths were linked to synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl.”
Since 2016, Sen. Burr said Congress has authorized or reauthorized more than 40 different federal programs to address mental health and substance use disorders. Most recently, the fiscal year 2022 omnibus appropriations bill provided nearly $5 billion for mental health and substance use disorder-related programs, he said.
“But at least nine of these authorized programs did not receive funding,” said the senator. “We have seen time and time again that creating a new program that does not get funded is a false promise; that creating a new program for the press release at a markup isn’t actually a solution.
“So, we need to figure out what we can do with the tools that we have, improve current programs, and fund the programs we do create,” he said. “And we should be honest with ourselves and the country and terminate programs that haven’t received funding in the last five years. If a program hasn’t received funding, it shouldn’t stay on the books.”
Toward reaching such goals, Sen. Burr suggested better-targeted federal programs; improved performance measures to track their progress; up-to-date data to inform response and address emerging issues; partnerships with the private sector to find innovative solutions; and leveraging and prioritizing existing federal health workforce programs to fill gaps in the mental health and substance use disorder workforce.