Joe Manchin aims to restore DEA power in opioid bill
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., introduced legislation to restore enforcement power to the Drug Enforcement Administration to target suspicious drug distributors.
The powers were stripped in a 2016 bill after heavy influence from the pharmaceutical industry, according to a report in the Washington Post. The scandal surrounding the bill, which passed Congress nearly unanimously and was signed into law by former President Barack Obama, caused Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., who led the legislation, to withdraw his nomination to serve as President Trump’s drug czar.
“This bill will make sure that the DEA regains the legal authority that was wrongly stripped from the agency in 2016 to ensure that they can go after companies taking advantage of the system, including those companies that send millions of opioid pills to tiny towns in West Virginia,” Manchin said.
Both the House and the Senate are pursuing legislation to target opioid abuse. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is considering eight bills that address the tide of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl and would expand treatment options.
But committee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., recently told reporters that a bill to restore powers to the DEA isn’t in the works. He said the committee is awaiting guidance from the agency on the best way to proceed.
Filed under: General Problems
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