WASHINGTON, DC - The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, April 29, 2014, at 10 a.m. in room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled “Examining the Growing Problems of Prescription Drug and Heroin Abuse."
Subcommittee members will review the growing concerns regarding heroin and prescription opioid abuse and related deaths. Reports indicate that as heroin overdoses increase, prescription drug abuse decreases, and vice versa. Almost half of drug overdose deaths in 2010 were attributed to prescription painkillers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse also finds that heroin use has been increasing since 2007 with nearly double the number of Americans using heroin in 2012 as did in 2006. Representatives from the Drug Enforcement Agency, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have been invited to testify.as they are posted.
