Sen. Fasano Statement on Gov. Malloy’s Opioid Related Legislation

Hartford – Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano (R-North Haven) released the following statement regarding Gov. Malloy’s legislative proposals regarding opioid abuse released today.

“I applaud these efforts to combat opioid abuse and I thank the governor for sharing his proposals today to move our state in the right direction in tackling this public health crisis. However, just as important as these proposals today, our state needs to make a commitment to protect core social services that help individuals who are recovering from addiction. In the last state budget we saw Gov. Malloy and Democrat leaders make extremely deep cuts to mental health and substance abuse services, while Republicans’ plans to restore much of this funding were rejected. We all know there are even greater budget challenges this year, but services to help those with drug addictions cannot be slashed as they were in the past. These core services need to be made a priority, and I hope to see the imperative to combat opioid abuse also reflected in the governor’s budget proposal next month.”

Fasano added, “As our state works hard to combat addiction, I also don’t believe legalizing a different recreational drug will help these efforts. Recreational drug use and addiction are serious public health issues and all policies that we pass have to be in line with our efforts to fight these problems if we hope to make progress.”