Opioid abuse has come to the forefront as a serious public health issue. In fact, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death in the United States, ahead of motor vehicle accidents and firearms. A number of federal legislative proposals have recently been introduced to address this crisis.

In near-apocalyptic terms, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn described the rising tide of American opioid abuse at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this year. “Opioid prescription drug and heroin addiction is ripping away at the fiber of our homes and our communities in our nation,” Texas’ senior senator said. “It’s destroying families, increasing crime, making our communities less safe, hurting our economy, and robbing millions of Americans of their future.”

The National Law Review reports that while the U.S. House passed several bills on the issue, the U.S. Senate passed its own measure, S.524, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA Act). In a bipartisan effort, both the House and Senate appointed conferees to hammer out differences. Those appointed to the Conference included 35 House members (made up of 21 Republicans and 14 Democrats) including Representatives from -key Committees including the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. The Senate had seven conferees. While addressing opioid abuse is bipartisan in nature, there was disagreement on process and content throughout the legislative process. One area of debate was funding for the bill.

The Act passed in the Senate by 90-2 after Democrats followed their colleagues in the House of Representatives and dropped calls for the legislation to include additional funding. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, called for Senate Democrats to pass the measure, citing support for the legislation by the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the Fraternal Order of Police and more than 200 other groups.

CARA includes several provisions concerning the need for expansion of prevention and education on the misuse of prescription pain killers and heroin. Law enforcement agencies and first responders are permitted to distribute naloxone for the reversal of overdose. Evidence-based treatment and intervention programs for incarcerated individuals and those across the country will be implemented. There will be safe disposal sites for prescription medications to diminish the opportunity for ill use. The Act creates a medication assisted treatment program for pain management and expands states’ drug monitoring programs to eliminate doctor shopping.

Now that CARA has passed and has been signed into law by the President, stakeholders will be watching closely for implementing rules, regulations, changes to incentive-based patient surveys, as well as any grant opportunities.

Further discussion of funding may arise as Congress discusses budgetary options in 2017and beyond.

“This is a historic moment, the first time in decades that Congress has passed comprehensive addiction legislation, and the first time Congress has ever supported long-term addiction recovery,” said Sen. Rob Portman, a chief author of the legislation. “This is also the first time that we’ve treated addiction like the disease that it is, which will help put an end to the stigma that has surrounded addiction for too long.”