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70,000 Americans died in 2017 from a drug overdose—the majority due to opioids. Emergency room visits for opioid overdoses are skyrocketing, and too many are still not receiving treatment. This is a public health crisis. And it has also severely impacted communities of color.
Today, Rep. Cummings & I—along with 80+ cosponsors—are rolling out the CARE Act, a comprehensive plan to end the opioid crisis by providing states & communities $100 billion over the next 10 years to ensure every single person gets the treatment they need. medium.com/@teamwarren/my…
These resources would support the whole continuum of care, from early intervention, to harm reduction, to long-term support services. They would ensure access to mental health services and help provide critical wraparound services like housing support and medical transportation.
The CARE Act also works to strengthen our addiction treatment infrastructure—demanding states use Medicaid to its fullest to tackle the crisis, expanding access to medication-assisted treatment, and ensuring treatment programs and recovery residences meet high standards.
That's a start. But this crisis has been driven by greed, pure and simple. To solve it, we need to hold business executives that cheat, defraud, and addict people accountable.
Under my plan, billionaires that got rich off of this crisis would pay to help ensure every person gets the care they need. And under my Corporate Executive Accountability Act, executives who deliberately hurt people through criminal negligence will face real criminal penalties.
