{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s524-114/featured_comprehensive-addiction-and-recovery-act-of-2016-1485895584.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s524-114/featured_large_comprehensive-addiction-and-recovery-act-of-2016-1485895584.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s524-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-02-12","title_override":"Does America Need to Reassess How it Handles Opioid Addictions?","summary_override":"

This bill aims to stop opioid and heroin addictions by reforming law enforcement\n strategies, reassessing prevention tactics, and expanding evidence-based treatment. It would develop education programs about prescription pain medications and addictions to them. It would also offer grants to state and local level organizations with similar goals.

Under this bill, the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) would be directed to offer grants to:

States,\n local governments, and nonprofit groups that understand addiction as a disease, work to prevent opioid and heroin abuse through education, and promote treatment and recovery;
Organizations that have worked on community-wide strategies to address local drug crises;
States,\n local governments, Indian tribes, and nonprofit groups that offer treatment alternatives to incarceration for people who would otherwise be\n in the juvenile or criminal justice system;
State, local, and tribal law \nenforcement agencies that try to prevent overdoses through demonstration programs. Additional grants would be \navailable for providing medication assisted treatment programs, \nprescription medication disposal sites, and educational programs for \nincarcerated offenders;
Veteran treatment \ncourt programs and their peer to peer \nservices for qualified veterans. Other programs that provide treatment, \nrehabilitation, legal, and transitional services to incarcerated \nveterans could also receive grants;
States interested in preparing a comprehensive plan for and implementing an integrated opioid \nabuse response initiative. State substance abuse and criminal justice \nagencies could get funding to jointly address: the use of opioids and \nheroin among pregnant and parenting female offenders, to promote public \nhealth, family permanence, and general well-being.

An\n interagency task force would be established, made up of officials from the Dept. of Health \nand Human Services (HHS), the Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Drug \nEnforcement Administration (DEA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),\n and other stakeholder groups. This task force \nwould develop best practices for pain management and the \nprescription of pain medication. The task force would then outline a \nstrategy for disseminating this information and report to Congress.

HHS would establish a program to identify\n collateral consequences for people with drug convictions and in \ntreatment for a substance abuse disorder, and whether those consequences\n prevent those individuals from resuming their personal and professional\n lives. The Dept. of Education would also be directed to remove \nquestions about convictions for the possession or sale of illegal drugs \nfrom federal student loan applications.

","official_title":"An Act to authorize the Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to address the prescription opioid abuse and heroin use crisis, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016","popular_title":"CARA bill","short_summary":"(This measure has not been amended since the Conference Report was filed in the House on July 6, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)\n\nComprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016\n\nTITLE I--PREVENTION AND EDUCATION\n\n(Sec. 101) This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to convene a Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force to review best practices for pain management developed or adopted by federal agencies. The task force must propose updates to best practices and recommendations for addressing gaps or inconsistencies.\n\n(Sec. 102) HHS must advance education and awareness regarding the risk of abuse of prescription opioids if they are not taken as prescribed. (Opioids are drugs with effects similar to opium, such as certain pain medications and heroin.)\n\n(Sec. 103) The Office of National Drug Control Policy, in coordination with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, may award grants to implement communit...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"People dealing with addiction to opioids or heroin, or who have been convicted of selling or possessing drugs and are in treatment; juvenile and criminal justice centers; relevant local, state, and tribal agencies; and relevant federal agencies.","argument_for":"Dealing with opioid and heroin abuse requires a multi-faceted strategy — including preventive education, reforms for prescribing pain medication, and treating addiction. This bill does all that, and lays out a plan that involves stakeholders at the federal, state, and local level.","argument_against":"Opioid and heroin addiction are problems that can’t be sufficiently mitigated through the best efforts of stakeholders at the federal, state, and local level. The federal government would be better served to focus these resources on one aspect of the problem, like education.","bill_type":"s","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"s524-114","bill_id":"s524-114","formal_id":"S. 524","chamber":"senate","congress":114,"last_action_at":"2016-07-22T00:00:00.000Z","active":true,"enacted":true,"enacted_at":"2016-07-22","vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":"2016-07-13T00:00:00.000Z","debated_on":null,"congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/senate-bill/524","plain_text_url":"https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114s524es/html/BILLS-114s524es.htm","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s524-114.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/senate-bill/524/text","is_current_congress":false,"last_version_on":"2016-03-10","related_bill_ids":["hr953-114","hr2463-114","hr4641-114","s32-114","s1913-114","hr4876-114","s2256-114","hr5249-114","s2678-114","hr1725-114","hr1818-114","hr3380-114","hr3680-114","hr3691-114","hr4063-114","hr4586-114","hr4599-114","hr4843-114","s2914-114","hres809-114","hr4892-114","hr4976-114","hr4978-114","hr4981-114","hr4985-114","hr5046-114","hr5048-114","hr5052-114","hr4969-114","hr4982-114","s3015-114","s2872-114","hres725-114","hr5145-114"],"progress":"Enacted","house_passage_result":true,"senate_passage_result":true,"position_count":728,"committees":[{"name":"Committee on the Judiciary","chamber":"senate","committee_id":"SSJU","subcommittee":false}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=s524-114","details":"/api/bills/s524-114/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/s524-114","positionsFor":"/api/bills/s524-114/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/s524-114/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":44,"slug":"s524-114-comprehensive-addiction-and-recovery-act-of-2016","latest_chamber_votes_id":"s524-114","official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":7832,"yea_vote_count":6426,"nay_vote_count":1389,"passed_house":true,"passed_senate":true,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":["crime-and-police"],"issue_ids":["crime-and-police","drugs","states"],"sponsor_id":593}],"votes":[],"issues":[{"id":"crime-and-police","name":"Crime & Police","slug":"crime-and-police","description":"Federal legislation related to the prevention of crimes(from assault to organized crime to juvenile crime), firearms and explosives, correctional facilities and terrorism. 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Make your voice heard about the issues you care about. \r\n","page_title":"Drugs Legislation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/drugs/black_drugs-1439216236.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/drugs/grey_drugs-1439216236.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/drugs/white_drugs-1439216236.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false},{"id":"states","name":"States","slug":"states","description":"Vote on the latest federal legislation regarding States. Make your voice heard about the issues you care about. \r\n","page_title":"States Legislation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/states/black_states-1453508817.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/states/grey_states-1453508817.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/states/white_states-1453508817.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false}],"users":[{"name":"KoltinT","vote_count":50,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/LWgQ4jBm/large_lwgq4jbm-1463177443.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/LWgQ4jBm/small_lwgq4jbm-1463177443.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/LWgQ4jBm/tiny_lwgq4jbm-1463177443.jpg"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/LWgQ4jBm/following","followers":"/api/users/LWgQ4jBm/followers"},"about_me":"I am an English instructor, moderate Republican, proud Tennesseean, and future legislator.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"koltint","issue_count":67,"is_following":null,"influence_score":110,"influence_level":20,"follower_count":0,"following_count":4,"position_count":33,"id":"LWgQ4jBm","partner_id":null}],"bill_position":{"flagged":false,"id":"703b5ab8-869a-4644-8e8e-c3166b449647","argument_for":"No two addicts are alike, so governments need sufficient funding to battle addiction in a myriad of ways to maximize effectiveness. 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Does America Need to Reassess How it Handles Opioid Addictions?