Senator Jeff Merkley says there’s a major opioid problem across the nation.
He introduced a bill, the Opioid Treatment Surge Act, to increase opioid treatment availability, and hold drug companies accountable.
Senator Merkley says drug companies have contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans.
He is proposing that a proportional amount of money from opioids sold by these companies go towards a surge fund.
The fund of two billion dollars would provide treatment to help people break their addiction habit to opioids.
“Opioid addiction is killing more people than cart accidents in our country, and a lot of it begins with the prescription of oxycontin and other opioids the company, the Sackler company that put forward this drug, knowingly mislead the public about the addiction,” Merkley said.
Senator Merkley also added that Oregon is significantly impacted by this nationwide epidemic.
Opioids sold on the streets are sometimes mixed with fentanyl which produces more deaths by overdose.
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