Will Congress Approve Sweeping Addiction and Recovery Bill?

(Summer 2016) The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) of 2015 passed the Senate this spring, approved by an overwhelming majority. CARA moves next to the House of Representatives.  However, even with identical proposed legislation and 92 co-sponsors, the legislation may encounter opposition due to the traditionally more fiscally conservative nature of the House.

If passed, CARA would allocate $600 million for grants. These funds would be appropriated from the budget bill, which was already approved in December 2015, as opposed to federal funds. The money would increase drug education and prevention efforts. CARA would also equip more law enforcement entities and other first responders with life-saving naloxone. Furthermore, the law would authorize states to have standing orders for naloxone, increase treatment of inmates and expand the number of drug take-back locations. The measure would also establish research programs to enhance medication-assisted treatment programs and bolster prescription drug monitoring initiatives.

In addition to CARA other legislation introduced into Congress aims to fight opioid misuse and drug addiction as well. The proposed bills concentrate on the expansion of naloxone availability, recommendations for chronic pain management and drug prescription, and deterrents to drugs being used by others than for whom they were prescribed. Other legislation charges the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with presenting information to teen athletes and their families about the risks of opioid use and abuse, alternative opioid treatments and options for addiction treatment.

All of these measures have yet to be presented to the entire House but come none too soon. In 2014 alone, the CDC reported more than 47,000 overdose fatalities due to prescription drugs, with 10,500 of them resulting from heroin.

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