Senator Hassan Speaks at New England Summit for Clinical Excellence Highlighting Need for More Resources to Address Opioid Epidemic

Senator Hassan Speaks at the New England Summit for Clinical Excellence.

BEDFORD, M.A. – Senator Maggie Hassan delivered remarks today at the New England Summit for Clinical Excellence, a gathering of treatment and recovery providers and medical professionals, where she spoke about the critical importance of supporting those on the front lines of the fentanyl, heroin, and opioid crisis.

“The fentanyl, heroin, and opioid crisis is the most pressing public health and safety challenge that New England faces, and the work of treatment and recovery providers and medical professionals on the front lines of this epidemic is extremely important,” Senator Hassan said. “We need real resources for prevention, treatment, and recovery services, including $45 billion that would be invested under legislation I helped introduce, but we know that we will ultimately need far more funding to make the long-term federal commitment that this crisis requires. While I am pleased that there has been an acknowledgement by the Trump Administration about the need to combat substance misuse, we need real action from the President, and that starts with ensuring that states have the resources they need. It is encouraging to see so many stakeholders working together at the New England Summit for Clinical Excellence to address substance misuse, and I will continue to support all of the dedicated professionals on the front lines battling this crisis.”

Senator Hassan helped introduce the Combating the Opioid Epidemic Act to invest $45 billion for prevention, detection, surveillance and treatment of opioids, and called for far more funding over the years to come to truly address the crisis. After the White House Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis released its report this week, Senator Hassan called for President Trump to back up his promises to address this crisis by immediately supporting efforts to provide the substantial additional funding required to implement the report’s recommendations.

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