NEWSFLASH!! CARA PASSES CONGRESS!.
On July 13, 2016 the United States Senate passed the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act (CARA) with a 92-2 vote. this follows an equally overwhelming 407-5 vote in the House of Representatives the week before. The bill is now headed to President Obama's desk for his anticipated signature.
While the current funding level for recovery services in the bill is grossly inadequate we must pause to acknowledge this historic achievement. With Congress mostly gridlocked for the past several years CARA received unprecedented bi-partisan support, indicative of the significance of the addiction crisis in communities in every state in the union. This is the first major addiction legislation to pass Congress in more than 40 years.
We will be gearing up shortly for a comprehensive nationwide advocacy campaign in the fall aimed at the appropriations process to increase CARA funding. Each year 47,000 people die from drug overdoses and >88,000 from alcohol related deaths.
Addiction is the number one public health crisis of our times and will be a top 3 issue in all political campaigns this fall. We need a comprehensive national approach to hold all candidates accountable. Stay tuned for additional updates in the coming weeks.
While the current funding level for recovery services in the bill is grossly inadequate we must pause to acknowledge this historic achievement. With Congress mostly gridlocked for the past several years CARA received unprecedented bi-partisan support, indicative of the significance of the addiction crisis in communities in every state in the union. This is the first major addiction legislation to pass Congress in more than 40 years.
We will be gearing up shortly for a comprehensive nationwide advocacy campaign in the fall aimed at the appropriations process to increase CARA funding. Each year 47,000 people die from drug overdoses and >88,000 from alcohol related deaths.
Addiction is the number one public health crisis of our times and will be a top 3 issue in all political campaigns this fall. We need a comprehensive national approach to hold all candidates accountable. Stay tuned for additional updates in the coming weeks.
*On May 12, 2016 the House passed a version of CARA that includes recovery programs in a landslide vote 400-5, A tremendous advocacy effort ensured the recovery provisions were added back in. As the legislative process now moves to conference committee with the Senate we must be visible and vocal nationwide to press for the strongest possible final bill with an increase in appropriations to sufficiently fund the CARA initiative.
