Every week, I read heartbreaking stories about how the lives of families across the country have been devastated by drug use. The opiate abuse epidemic in our country has the potential to affect anyone, regardless of race, gender, income, or where you live.

Recently, the House of Representatives took action to address the crisis through a series of more than 15 bipartisan bills. One of the bills passed was the Reducing Unused Medications Act, legislation I introduced with Representative Katherine Clark (R-Mass.). Our bill seeks to reduce the number of unused prescription drugs in circulation by allowing pharmacists to partially fill prescriptions at the request of a patient or doctor.

The House also took aim at establishing education programs to prevent drug abuse and empowering law enforcement to better keep the community safe.  Specifically, legislation was passed to provide grants for each state to use to combat the drug abuse problems they face.

This will not be an issue that is solved overnight, but I am confident that by working together, we can curb the epidemic. If you have any questions or comments about this or other issues facing our federal government, you can call my office in Washington, D.C. at (202) 225-2015, Hilliard at (614) 771-4968, Lancaster at (740) 654-2654, or Wilmington at (937) 283-7049.