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was mentioned in RECOGNIZING INTERNATIONAL OVERDOSE AWARENESS DAY..... on page E945 covering the 1st Session of the 117th Congress published on Aug. 31, 2021 in the Congressional Record.

The publication is reproduced in full below:

RECOGNIZING INTERNATIONAL OVERDOSE AWARENESS DAY

______

HON. J. FRENCH HILL

of arkansas

in the house of representatives

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Mr. HILL. Madam Speaker, today I recognize International Overdose Awareness Day.

I speak not only as a Congressman, but as a father and husband who is working towards an end to overdose deaths and the heartache for the families and loved ones left behind.

To those who have a loved one struggling with a substance abuse disorder or who have lost a loved one to an overdose, I am sorry, and I share in the collective grief.

Like many in my home state of Arkansas and across the nation, my family and I have lost friends to overdoses.

I am listening and I understand the pain that you and your loved ones have experienced in losing someone to an overdose.

Throughout my time in Congress, I have worked to combat the opioid crisis, end overdose deaths, and end the stigma of overdose deaths and addiction.

I was the co-author of the bipartisan Fentanyl Sanctions Act, and I am proud that it was signed into law in December 2019 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.

This law placed sanctions on drug manufacturers in China who knowingly provide synthetic opioids to traffickers, and it placed sanctions on transnational criminal organizations like those in Mexico who mix fentanyl with other drugs and traffic them into the United States.

And, importantly, it placed sanctions on financial institutions assisting those entities and individuals knowingly trafficking synthetic opioids.

Stopping the flow of fentanyl and synthetic opioids is critical to preventing addiction and overdoses, and through it we will save lives.

I appreciate the opportunity to mark International Overdose Awareness Day and thank the organizers of the event, the Parker Gill Foundation, in Little Rock that is bringing together loved ones and that continues this important fight in the memory of those lost.

I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to continue this fight.

____________________

SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 152

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