Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) is endorsing the federal bill, “Road to Recovery Act” (H.R. 2938) which will help address a lack of treatment for those suffering from drug addiction. The legislation will make treatment affordable for those who need it, and create market incentives for new treatment resources.

America’s opioid crisis, including addiction to prescription pain relievers, is getting dramatically worse. A recent study indicates that drug overdoses claimed as many as 65,000 American lives in 2016, a 24 percent increase from the year before.

“…we cannot arrest our way out of this problem, because it is not just a public safety challenge—it is a public health challenge as well,” reads the NAAG letter sent today to U.S. House of Representative leaders and signed by 39 attorneys general in the states and District of Columbia. “If we truly want to end this crisis, we need to focus on its root causes, including a lack of treatment for those suffering from addiction.”

# # #