Portman continues push to prevent prescription drug abuse in Ohio

On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) continued his push to combat prescription drug abuse at the Curbing Prescription Drug Abuse with Patient Review and Restriction Programs forum hosted by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Portman was joined by leaders from the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a discussion on how patient review and restriction programs can help combat prescription drug abuse by preventing “doctor shopping” and coordinating patient care.
 
“So many families in Ohio and around the country now understand this and have experienced the heartache of addiction and overdose, sadly in some cases overdose deaths,” Portman said in his remarks. “The devastation that it causes them personally, our communities, our state, and our country, that’s what we are trying to get at here. I believe this is at crisis levels.”

Portman has spent his time in Congress working to fight drug abuse. Portman is the author of the Stopping Medication Abuse and Protecting Seniors Act which will prevent inappropriate access to opioids and improve patient care for at-risk beneficiaries. He is also the author of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2015, legislation designed to provide new resources and incentives to address addiction in several ways. It uses evidence-based tested methods to expand treatment while increasing educational efforts aimed at teens, parents and other caretakers with the goal of stopping drug abuse before it starts.

Portman also wrote the Drug-Free Communities Act, which was signed into law and has provided millions of dollars of support to hundreds of community anti-drug coalitions round the country.