OpEd: Rural America deserves real solutions to opioid epidemic

Between July of 2021 and June of 2022, more than 107,000 Americans tragically died from a drug overdose, cementing opioids as the leading cause of death among people ages 18 to 45 in the United States.

 

In Iowa alone, 210 lives were lost to these drugs in 2020. These individuals are not just statistics; they are parents, siblings, husbands, wives, grandchildren, friends, and loved ones. As a matter of public health and community safety, it is incumbent upon our leaders to implement targeted policies that reverse this alarming trend and save families the heartache of prematurely burying a loved one.

 

The opioid epidemic extends well beyond urban and suburban communities. Sadly, this crisis is even more dire in rural America. From 1999 to 2015, overdose deaths increased by 325% in rural counties, and according to a 2017 survey commissioned by the National Farmers Union and the American Farm Bureau Federation, roughly 74% of farmers have been directly impacted by the opioid epidemic – particularly due to the labor-intensive nature of farm work. Moreover, the lack of access to quality, affordable healthcare in our rural communities only exacerbates the severity of this crisis, preventing too many people from receiving the care that they need.

Born and raised in rural Iowa, we have seen the opioid crisis firsthand and witnessed its devastating and deadly impact on precious lives, Iowa families, and our rural communities. This crisis will not be resolved by big-government mandates; it requires local control and approval from the local community.

That’s why we worked together to introduce the Rural Opioid Abuse Prevention Act -- signed into law by President Biden in December -- to tackle the opioid epidemic head-on at the local level. This vital legislation will help the most vulnerable in our rural communities recover from opioid abuse, equip our healthcare workers with critical tools to treat addiction, and provide our first responders with the support they need to save lives.

 

This bill establishes a grant program, known as the Rural Responses to the Opioid Epidemic Initiative, at the U.S. Department of Justice to assist rural communities, local governments, and nonprofits with developing programs that help reduce opioid abuse and overdoses. It also provides first responders with additional tools to save lives. This initiative currently supports 21 organizations in rural communities, helping local officials identify current gaps in prevention, treatment, and recovery services.

 

Additionally, this crucial investment today will pay dividends down the road to save lives, protect families, safeguard taxpayer dollars, and give so many people a second chance on life. In 2020, the U.S. Congress’s Joint Economic Committee (JEC) estimated that the economic impact of the opioid epidemic – including healthcare costs, foregone work, lost productivity, and addiction treatment – totaled roughly $1.5 trillion. While the opioid epidemic is first and foremost a health crisis, it is also an economic crisis that, left unresolved, spells disaster for our fiscal health and economic competitiveness.

 

In conjunction with our new law, we must also redouble our efforts – through oversight authority, investigative power, and the congressional power of the purse – to secure our wide-open border, which welcomes and facilitates the drug trade into our country and down our main streets. As such, we have both consistently advocated for maintaining sound policies like Title 42, finishing construction of the border wall, and prosecuting drug traffickers to the fullest extent of the law for flooding our communities with deadly fentanyl and opioids. We will continue to push the Biden Administration to secure the border.

 

The pain of losing a loved one never truly heals. But, with the right tools and resources, we can ensure that fewer and fewer families face unthinkable tragedy. As proud residents of rural Iowa, we will continue to work together to secure our border, hold criminal drug traffickers accountable, and provide our rural communities with the support they need to save lives and combat this terrible epidemic. We are optimistic that our new law will make a real difference.