The Congressional Bi-Partisan Heroin Task Force laid out its 2018 agenda aimed at battling drug addiction.
The task force’s 16 priority bills address a wide variety of opioid-related issues, including expanding access to treatment, better ways to detect illegal drugs at the nation’s borders and improved monitoring of prescriptions.
U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-17, sponsored one of the priority bills, which would require the Department of Agriculture to join the effort against a problem disproportionately affecting rural America.
“We’ve asked for 20% of one of the funds in the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help fight this through prevention, treatment and recovery,” Bustos said.
Bustos says the death rate is 45 percent higher in rural districts like hers.