U.S. must tackle mental health, addiction crises simultaneously, top federal official tells Congress

At a House oversight hearing this week, the Biden administration’s top drug policy official emphasized the need to address both mental illness and drug addiction simultaneously to reduce fentanyl deaths (Source: “Mental illness, drug addiction go hand in glove, Biden’s drug czar tells lawmakers,” Stat News, July 27).

Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, testified that “mental illness and drug addiction go hand in glove,” emphasizing that “it’s really important that we address both mental health, social isolation as well as addiction.”

Tackling these dual crises is an ongoing effort in Congress, with the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force passing seventeen bills co-led by a Democrat and Republican in the previous 117th Congress.

Areas of bipartisan interest included addiction treatment in the criminal justice system, with both Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) inquiring about rehabilitation programs. Released inmates are 129 times more likely to die from overdose within two weeks after release as compared with other residents, Gupta pointed out.