Press Club Headliners Newsmaker to look at opioid crisis, Monday, Sept. 25

Rep. Tim Ryan, (D-Ohio), co-chair of the House Addiction Treatment and Recovery Caucus, plans to join three frontline health care workers at a National Press Club Headliners Newsmaker event on Monday, Sept. 25, at 10 a.m. to discuss the opioid crisis, what they see as the lack of parity between mental health and physical health care, and their call for action by Congress and the Trump administration.

This Headliners Newsmaker event, to be held in the Club’s Zenger Room, is open to credentialed media and Club members free of charge, with advance registration required. Please click here to register.

Last month, President Donald Trump said the country’s opioid crisis “is a national emergency.” He went on to say “we’re going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money” to counter opioid addiction. But, what has happened? Is money being appropriated? What is needed? The Headliners Newsmaker panel aims to answer these questions.

The Trump administration’s 2018 budget proposes substantial cuts to the Administration for Children and Families, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Medicaid is the country’s largest payer for addiction services and covers a significant portion of opioid addiction medication.

In a new study, Princeton economist Alan Krueger documents that opioids are more than a health threat. Between 1999 and 2015, roughly 20 percent of the drop in men's workforce participation and 25 percent of women's was due to painkiller drug use.

Scheduled to speak at the Headliners Newsmaker news conference:

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) has represented Ohio’s 13th Congressional District since 2003. In addition to his leadership of the caucus, he serves as co-chairman of the Military Mental Health Caucus.

Jackie Schalit, a marriage and family therapist at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, California, works with children whose parents have had an addiction, many who are incarcerated. Some of her patients are babies born addicted to opioids.

Kenneth Rogers PsyD., a licensed psychologist with Kaiser Permanente in Northern California, provides individual psychotherapy, group therapy and psychological testing with adult populations. Rogers also is a vice president of the National Union of Health Workers.

Cuyler Costanzo, a clinical coordinator with Oriana House in Akron, Ohio. Oriana House is an addiction and recovery center. Costanzo oversees a driver intervention program as well as a multiple-offender program, along with a clinic in Marietta, Ohio.