A bipartisan group of 144 House lawmakers plans to unveil their agenda Wednesday for expanding access to mental health care and combating the growing drug epidemic after overdose deaths hit new highs, CQ Roll Call has learned first exclusively.
The group plans to announce its agenda of 66 bills and one resolution during a midday Wednesday news conference. The 48-page bipartisan blueprint outlining the group’s legislative goals includes 12 policy subcategories including prevention, treatment, rural and underserved communities, workforce development, first responders, interdiction, children and families, veterans, prescribing, education, health care access and health parity.
The release of the agenda comes after progress in tackling the drug epidemic ground to a halt during the pandemic.
Over 95,000 people died from drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending in February 2021, the highest ever recorded in a year, according to preliminary Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. A separate study released last week by the National Institute on Drug Abuse showed that methamphetamine-involved overdose deaths almost tripled from 2015 to 2019.
It also comes as the pandemic has highlighted a number of health disparities in various communities. A National Institutes of Health-supported study published this month showed a 38 percent increase in opioid overdose deaths among non-Hispanic Black individuals in four states from 2018 to 2019. The study of deaths in New York, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Ohio saw opioid overdose deaths for other racial and ethnic groups stay flat or decrease during this time.
