Res. No. 477
Title
Resolution calling on the United States Congress to pass, and the President to sign, H.R.5228 and H.R.5752, to strengthen the authorities of the Food and Drug Administration to address the importation of certain drugs.
Body
By Council Member Holden
Whereas, Opioid abuse and death are at epidemic levels in the United States (U.S.), and, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, nearly 64,000 people died of drug overdoses in America in 2016; and
Whereas, According to New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), overdose deaths in New York City remained at epidemic levels in 2017, and every 7 hours someone in New York City dies from a drug overdose; and
Whereas, An estimated 1,441 people died in New York City from drug overdose in 2017, surpassing the amount of deaths due to overdose in 2016; and
Whereas, Of those who died from opioid overdose in 2016 in New York City, only 18 percent involved prescription opioid painkillers; and
Whereas, More Americans are dying from synthetic opioids, and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), synthetic opioid overdose deaths rose more than 72% from 2014 to 2015, and many of those deaths were due to illicit fentanyl; and
Whereas, According to the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, the use of internationally manufactured synthetic opioids have sharply increased over the last five years and were responsible for 20,000 overdoses in 2016; and
Whereas, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is tasked with monitoring FDA-regulated products arriving at the nation's international mail facilities (IMFs) to prevent unsafe, counterfeit, and unapproved products from entering the country; and
Whereas, According to a January 2018 report by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, from 2013 to 2015 the number of packages processed by IMFs nearly doubled, and the nine IMFs located throughout t...
Click here for full text