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Pingree-backed bill to address problem of infants struggling with drug withdrawal passes U.S. HouseMaine has one of the highest percentages of babies exposed to drug use before they are born
Washington, DC,
September 9, 2015
A bill backed by Congresswoman Chellie Pingree that would begin to develop a national strategy for addressing the problem of babies who sufferdrug withdrawal symptoms as soon as they are born passed the U.S. House tonight. The number of infants who start life with drugs in their system is rising quickly in Maine, increasing by 500% between 2005 and 2012. In 2012, 779 babies were born in Maine who had to be weaned off some sort of opioid. Pingree is a co-sponsor of the Protecting Our Infants Act of 2015 (H.R. 1462), which would require federal experts at agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a national strategy for tracking the number of cases and creating recommendations for prevention and treatment. The bill passed the House unanimously tonight. |