WASHINGTON, DC -- Georgia's senior senator introduced a bill Wednesday to improve the federal response to the national opioid crisis, a fight that has become personal to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson.
The Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 is designed to improve communication and data sharing across government agencies involved in responding to the opioid epidemic.
Isakson's grandson died in 2016 of an overdose, according to The Hill.
“My own family has been touched by the devastating consequences of opioid addiction,” said Isakson. “As a country, we need to treat addiction as the devastating disease that it is, and we need to help people struggling with addiction get the treatment they need."
Isakson said the bill was developed after months of testimony in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Isakson, a committee member, and his colleagues worked to find ways to improve the federal response to the opioid crisis and help prevent more Americans from succumbing to the epidemic.
The bipartisan legislation, which can be found here. was introduced by U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, along with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the committee’s leading Democrat.
