Gillibrand Calls For Senate To Pass Opioid Law In Harrison Visit

HARRISON, NY — With the Senate set to vote on legislation to address the opioid crisis, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand visited Harrison in a push for funding to help New York state combat the epidemic. She called on her colleagues to support funding to allow every state to share critical data.

Gillibrand did so during a visit to St. Vincent’s Hospital Westchester, a Division of St. Joseph’s Medical Center. She called on the Senate to support prescription drug monitoring programs that help prevent opioid abuse and prescription fraud.

New York’s prescription drug monitoring program has helped reduce "doctor shopping" and prescription opioid abuse by 90 percent since 2013, she said. But New York doesn't have the data it needs from many other states.

The Senate is expected to vote on the Opioid Crisis Response Act this week, a major legislative package that would create new programs and funding streams to prevent and respond to the opioid epidemic, she said.

PHOTO/ U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in Harrison Sept.17, 2018/courtesy