May 29, 2016 3 min read

He was a high school football star and a hero in the community, but just a few years later he was gone.

She was a loving mother who had plans to go back to school in order to get a good-paying job so she could support her family, but she is now gone.

He was a young and successful small-business owner with a lucrative future ahead of him, but he is now gone.

While these are just fictional examples, stories like this are sadly becoming a reality in our region more and more each day. Since 2000, opioid-related overdose deaths have increased 200 percent nationwide, and Pennsylvania ranks among the highest in the nation of states where these deaths are occurring.

We are losing sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, leaders in the community, role models for our young people, and people of all demographics and backgrounds. We are losing them in every town across America and at an even alarmingly higher rate in our region. We are losing them to the devastating opioid epidemic.

I wish I could say there was an immediate fix to stopping this crisis, but there isn’t. However, I am confident that over time we can combat this epidemic and eventually stop it for good.

We will do it if our community leaders, our schools, and the local, state, and federal governments continue to work together. The efforts will not only save lives, but will also repair our communities that are being ravaged by drug abuse. We pride ourselves on living in an area where we know our neighbors, know their families, and feel safe at home and in town.

The victims in this battle are the same people we see in church and at the grocery store. These people are suffering, and we can help, we must help. We must not turn a blind eye to these tragedies occurring right here in our backyards; we need to face them and can never accept these deaths as the “new normal.”

Recently, with my support, the U.S. House of Representatives took significant action to combat overdose-related deaths by passing a major legislative package containing over a dozen measures. The package increases funding for treatment, reauthorizes substance abuse programs, and provides better access to naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug. The House action also increases federal support for programs for pregnancy and postpartum issues and will help prevent the overprescription of opioids to our veterans in the VA system.

These measures passed by huge margins with Democrats and Republicans working together to combat this scourge in our communities.

This is an ongoing effort and by no means can we now sit idly by and hope this legislation completely stops the crisis.

We all have to come together as friends, neighbors, community leaders and elected officials to shed light on this epidemic in order to address it. The action by the House is just one step in a larger puzzle that involves many pieces, but it will undoubtedly save lives and begin the process of healing families and communities who have been broken by these terrible drugs.

Bill Shuster represents Pennsylvania’s 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.