Senator Hassan Statement on Nomination of Anne Milgram to Head Drug Enforcement Administration

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) released a statement on President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will nominate Anne Milgram to be Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). If confirmed, Milgram would be the first Senate-confirmed Administrator at the DEA in nearly six years:

“The substance use disorder crisis remains one of the toughest public health and safety challenges in New Hampshire, and the Drug Enforcement Administration plays an essential role in curtailing the deadly flow of fentanyl, heroin, opioids, and other addictive drugs into Granite State communities. The Drug Enforcement Administration can also work in partnership with other federal health agencies to help eliminate barriers and reduce stigma associated with medication-assisted treatment, and I will continue to work with federal agencies and bipartisan Members of Congress on this. It is long past time that the Drug Enforcement Administration have a Senate-confirmed leader, and I look forward to closely reviewing Anne Milgram’s record and learning more about her plans to combat this devastating epidemic as we consider this nomination.”

Senator Hassan has been leading bipartisan efforts to combat the substance use disorder crisis, and since 2017, the Senator has worked to secure more than $86 million to New Hampshire in State Opioid Response grant funding to address the substance use disorder epidemic. Additionally, in 2018, Senator Hassan attended the White House signing ceremony for the bipartisan INTERDICT Act, which she cosponsored, to help ensure that U.S. Customs and Border Protection have the tools to help detect and intercept fentanyl being smuggled into the United States – much of which originated in China. Last year, bipartisan legislation cosponsored by Senator Hassan became law to help prevent opioid trafficking by further ensuring that personnel at the Department of Homeland Security can more easily detect synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Senator Hassan has also led bipartisan efforts to vastly increase access to life-saving addiction medicine by eliminating a requirement that currently blocks millions of highly trained health professionals from prescribing buprenorphine to their patients.

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