U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ), co-chair of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force, knows that in the United States it will truly take a village to overcome the ongoing opioid overdose epidemic, which continues to claim the lives of citizens across the country.
“We are losing 174 Americans every day to the opioid crisis,” Rep. MacArthur said during a May 15 task force roundtable held on effective addiction treatment and recovery. “They aren’t just numbers. These are people whose lives were stolen from them and cut short. They were someone’s son or daughter, brother or sister, soulmate or friend.”
Of the more than 63,600 deaths due to drug overdose in 2016, 66 percent involved opioids, according to a December 2017 report from the National Center for Health Statistics, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That total far surpasses the American Society of Clinical Oncology‘s estimate that 41,070 people died from breast cancer in 2017.
Rep. MacArthur put the national numbers in perspective. “If we lost 174 people from a plane crash two days in a row, we would ground every plane and do whatever is necessary to keep people safe,” he said. “We need that intensity of effort to overcome this crisis. It may be bigger than any of us, but it isn’t bigger than all of us together.”
In the congressman’s home state, Ocean County, N.J., is considered the epicenter of the fight against opioid addiction. The county recently was designated a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) following a team effort led by Rep. MacArthur, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), and County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato, according to a statement from the congressman’s staff.
“South Jersey has been hit particularly hard and I’m grateful for the commitment of our first responders, recovery specialists and healthcare community,” Rep. MacArthur said. “The Bipartisan Heroin Task Force has made progress and we will stand with our local communities in providing the resources and initiatives to help us overcome this together.”
Toward that goal, the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force is readying proposed legislation to submit to Congress that targets the opioid addiction epidemic, said U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster (D-NH), also co-chair of the task force, during the roundtable.
Also during the discussion, task force members received updates from several experts working on the ground to help combat the crisis.
For instance, Christopher Jones, director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Mental Health and Substance Policy Lab, provided details about the national state of the opioid crisis and the federal response. John Brogan, the chief recovery specialist for Lifeline Recovery Support Services in the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office’s Blue Hart Program, along with Chief Brian Rhodes of the Nashua (NH) Fire and Rescue Department, described the innovative, successful treatment programs in their communities that have reduced local overdose deaths, according to Rep. MacArthur’s staff.
“Our nation needs to take a comprehensive approach to treating addiction, which impacts the mind, body and soul,” Brogan said. “The work of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force in Congress is crucial to bring people together to develop comprehensive solutions that will help us treat this disease.”