Transcripts For CSPAN Opioid Crisis Hearing At Johns Hopkins

Afternoon, everyone. Welcome to hopkins. I have the distinct pleasure of welcoming you all to the institution. As the president ive often had the immense pleasure and privilege of working closely with congressman Elijah Cummings on a variety of issues and we are grateful for his steadfast leadership nationally and on behalf of his local constituents we are lucky to count ourselves among those hes represented from more than two decades. We are honored to be a part of the house government reform committees efforts to find Meaningful Solutions to the Opioid Epidemic. Thank you all for being here today. It is no secret that we are in the throes of a crisis that has reached Epic Proportions throughout the country, and baltimore is no exception. In 2016, weve averaged nearly two fatal opioid doses in the city per day. This is a problem in need of thoughtful answers as both an anchor institution and steward of health care for the local communities, hopkins takes the problem very seriously. We see firsthand the devastation fielded by Substance Abuse disorders. Here and at th desist or hospito the east, the number of opioid Overdose Patients seen in the Emergency Department doubles last year doubled. This is a part of our reality. So, what are we doing about it . As an academic medical center, we are addressing the issue of research to Clinical Care and education. First, research. Hopkins research runs from bench to bedside starting with the original identification by doctor solomons mitered in the 1970s to the multitude of Clinical Trials that are conducted in the behavioral pharmacology unit on the campus. We are working hard to make an impact. The Clinical Care we are working on two fronts, treating the disorder that already exists and preventing future addiction. An addiction to the treatment units. Its addressing Mental Health, social services and family needs and we have specialized programs targeting pregnant women, youth and adolescence. Perhaps just as important as treating, we are working aggressively to prevent the pathways of Substance Abuse from opening. Theyve implemented guidelines of the opioids such as limiting the dosage o of the first prescription particularly after surgery and eliminating automatic refills. While patients are in the hospital we have team of specialists work with them to find alternate modalities of treatment and we provide access to the locks on fo luxor for pah disorders visit. Though we havent stopped there in the third part of the mission of education. As educators we are working to ensure the next generation of the physicians and providers is to practice his treatment and prevention by incorporating them into all aspects of training. We realize the work were doing is one piece of a complicated puzzle. The Opioid Epidemic is after all a Public Health crisis that requires a systemwide approach. Among the partners is John Hopkins School of Public Health. The Bloomberg America Health Initiative launched last fall with a generous gift from being Innovative Research projects partnering with communitybased organizations and working with policymakers around the country to implement evidencebased comprehensive solutions and beyond the hopkins campuses, we rely on the expertise of so many other healthrelated institutions and businesses from the Baltimore City Health Department to the local pharmacies and our elected leaders. So i look forward to todays testimony from a dedicated and edwarandinformed group of Important Group of witnesses. I am confident that your work will move us forward to achieving solutions. Thank you. Now i i am honored to yield the floor to the mayor of Baltimore City mary catherine. The plus [applause] to the esteemed committee, thank you it up to the congressman. Everybody knows at this point that we are in a crisis. Opioid addiction, we are suffering here in baltimore but the nation is suffering and its important that we pay close attention to what we do as it relates to the individual suffering from this and the communities that are being destroyed by it. We know that in Baltimore City we have a big problem and we know that we are part of a larger problem with the governor whwho convened a group to look t this particular issue and we are focused on not only making sure that people dont get involved with drugs but doing what we can to keep people from overdosing. I have one of the greatest healthcare sugars in the country whos really focused on this particular issue, so again i want to welcome you all here and i know that this panel will continue to deliberate over this issue and i look forward to hearing the results of the panel so we welcome you to baltimore but more importantly we understand the importance of your work. Thank you. Now i have the distinguished honor of bringing before you the governor of the great state of maryland, where governor. Thank you so much. [applause] thank you mayor and governor christie as you know who chaired the Residents Commission on the opioids and i want to thank the congressman cummings, ruppersberger and all of our members of the house for coming here today to baltimore. We thank you for holding this hearing in the city of baltimore and the state of maryland and also want to thank all of you in the audience for being here today and who have enough interest to be here this is a National Crisis and something ive been very passionate about for about four years. When i first decided to run for governor i was traveling in maryland and every single town and community i was going to indict thinvite the task of locs what is the number one issue facing your community and it didnt matter whether i was in Baltimore City or urban areas or wealthy suburbs of Montgomery County and washington suburbs and it didnt matter if i was in a small group county the answer was always the same in every place i went they said the number one problem we are facing his heroine and opioids and it came as a shock during the campaigthat during thecampaign g folks involved in addiction and Police Officers and we got everything we could. Soon as i was sworn in as governor whe one of the first ts i did in january of 2015 is put together a heroine and Opioid Emergency Task force chaired by the governor and hundreds would testify. We came out of that with 38 recommendations all of which we implemented and it continued to get worse no matter what we tried. We became the first state in america to declare a real state of emergency just like we went for a Natural Disaster and it is a national disaster. So far this year in our state 1180 people have died of overdoses in maryland. In almost every single day people are dying. This has now evolved, we have leveled and reduced the number of deaths from prescription opioids for the First Time Ever we flatlined heroine overdoses but we have a 70 spike in front of fentanyl. As we try to be aggressive on this issue, its constantly involveit constantlyinvolved int it and i want to thank governor christie for his work because it isnt just a Health Crisis but its impacting into tearing apart families and communities from one end of the country to another and its going to take it all hands on deck approach. Federal government working with the state and local governments along with people in the private sector in hospitals. I want to think hopkins for hosting us today that i want to thank you for your interest and say that i called on the federal Government Back when we did our State University and said federal government ought to do the same thing and that would be my recommendation to the committee to have federal funding, and i would say this is the most important problem facing the country so thank you and im going to turn the floor over to the chair man who is here. Thank you so much for being there. [applause] thank you, governor and Johns Hopkins for pardoning the inconvenience and appreciate the seriousness of the issue that brings us here. The committee will come t to orr without objection the chair is able to call recess at any time. We are in the hometown and because he cares so passionately about this issue we are going to recognize you first for your Opening Statement. Thank you mr. Chairman. But i cannot come into this hospital without saying thank you to hopkins for saving my life. I spend 60 days here this summer and a lot of that was here in this building. I see a lot of white coats out there and others. Thank you for what you have done. I want to begin by thanking the chair man for calling todays very important hearing bringing the Oversight Committee to baltimore i also thank my colleagues for coming to baltimore and certainly my colleagues who represent baltimore along with me and doctor ruppersberger. Ive been in the congress now for 20 years and ive seen a lot but ive never seen as many members attend any since ive been in congress. Today is a remarkable turn out and the fact that the Opioid Crisis is a National Emergency that doesnt discriminate based on politics. It affects red states and blue states and every state between. So im extremely grateful for the request to bring the committee to the road to investigate the devastating effect of this very difficult problem. I also want to thank doctor miller for your hospitality. The work you do makes a huge difference in the committee and around the globe. We are honored to have you in our prisons and of course i think our witnesses, governor Chris Christie doctor alexander. Thank you for testifying and for all that you are doing to help us save lives. A year and a half ago at the committees first hearing on this issue either warned that so many people were dying and communities into that we could no longer ignore this emergency. Today the centers for disease ce control and prevention estimates that more than 64,000 americans die from drug overdoses in 2016, an increase of more than 20 over the year before it last year alone was higher than all u. S. Military combined. Every 20 minutes someone dies from an opioid overdose. Todays hearing lasts for two hours, half a dozen families who have lost a parent, a sibling or a child to opioids. We have the reports, years of talk and no it is tim now it isr action. The American People are looking for us to take action, looking to the president and the congress they are asking what are you going to do. Governor christie and the other members of the commission on drug addiction have given us a group with dozens of recommendations and now it is up to us, republicans and democrats, local officials, researchers, drug companies, Health Providers on the ground and families of the communities. We need to Work Together to end this epidemic. Something we can do right now to help prevent addiction and save those who already have this disease, for example, we can assure that every Single Person who need needs the lock so it hs its. The commissions report highlights the importance of equipping First Responders including Police Officers, Fire Departments and Public Health officials. But heres the challenge. Drug companies have continued to hike up the price of this 45yearold drug and have been forced to ration it. In september the members of the house of representatives are sending a letter urging President Donald Trump to negotiate lower prices just as the Commission Recommended that unfortunately we never received a response. The president should act now to make sure it is available at a reasonable price whenever and wherever it is needed. We also need to ensure that every affected person has access to an effective treatment. According to the commission and i quote today only 10. 6 of the youth and adults who need treatment for the substance disorder receivsubstance disord. Only 10 . There is no way to end this crisis if those affected are not being treated and if we do not act now. To do this, we need funding. Last month President Trump declared this epidemic a Public Health emergency that didnt propose any additional funding to combat it. We cannot fight this epidemic without equal to the challenge we face. This is a sad truth, so finally we must recognize and acknowledge the many factors that people at risk. Woefully inadequate support for our children and vulnerable residents, worsening the economic inequality, lack of opportunity and profound disparities of the criminal Justice System. We cannot solve the crisis until these risk factors are addressed. With that, mr. Chairman, thank you and i look forward to the testimony into taking action on it and i ask for unanimous consent. With that, i will yield back t the. Back stronger than ever, so thank you all governor christie and past and present governors witnessed a drug epidemic in the history. It kills more americans than homicides in car crashes combined. It is a staggering reality, two out of every three overdoses in the United States involve opioids prescribed to believe and manage pain. Over 33,000 americans die from an opioid related overdose in 2015 which is an increase from the year before. In South Carolina where i come from, theyve suffered more than 100 opioid related overdoses in 2015 and while the numbers are fewer when compared with those like baltimore behinwith baltimy member in the statistic is a lifwife with loved ones and friends, potential aspirations we have a tendency to use numbers and governance in our line of work that the victims are rough numbers. We can cure diseases the past generations lived on. We can put people on the moon but we are struggling on how to respond with this epidemic. I guess we need to start with how did we get here. There are illicit uses for these drugs. One is unlawful and the other is legal. Physicians have a role to play for certain. These drugs are not available legally. What are the pharmaceutical alternatives, is there overprescribing, sufficient information shared to avoid the misuse and abuse, frequent exposure and access to painkillers lead to intolerance, Substance Use disorders to intensify the methods with or without the help of the physician. It is growing exponentially on the illicit side of the equation they have high potent pills to the market to be placed through an resulting in the drugs so lethal theyve been called a grave death to describe the risk associated with every single injection. Opioid related overdoses are deadlier than the hiv aids epidemic at its peak that predated it. Theres there is a plethora of s to be asked in the use of substances. Also prosecutor doctors. I want to make sure they are evicted going to the source of the issue outside the course of a professional medical practice. Are they monitoring and sugars with less addictive outreach for patients or the states regulating the homes that can move patients in and out of treatment physically for profit and these are the questions people want answers to all across the nation. Almost everything seems capable of being reduced to political exercise i genuinely hope that this epidemic is above that. I hope its about protecting those especially among the premature, especially the premature death of a young wife with no political or ideological victims and the perpetrators, addiction is addiction, heartache is heartache. The issue to me comes down to those seeking a solution and those who profit off of other peoples addiction and pain. Its not just those across the Healthcare System is also the disease of addiction that is permeating and threatening in some places within the country the very fabric of the communities. At the same time, the pain is real for the homebuilder and mr. Cummings district for mine with an immense vaccine. How do we solve this epidemic. Theres a provision aspects of the treatment aspect of education aspect, punishment aspect and oversight aspect. The president signed an executive order for governors and attorney genera attorneys gd a professor to recommend policies for the federal response of the epidemic. The commission finalized recommendations for how the federal government can help the stakeholders and stave off the emerging threats. Today we will have an opportunity to highlight and appropriately so. Weve also examine the state and federal partners and how they can assist with and learn from the efforts that are occurring here. The devastating statistics may leave us feeling like we just left the starting line. But our country is resilient, we have resources, compassion, i think we have a commitment to win this battle with opioid and opioid addiction so i want to thank all of the witnesses. Governor christie, you are the great governor of the state