04.22.24

Hoeven, Colleagues to VA: Provide Non-Opioid Pain Management Options for Veterans

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven and a bipartisan group of senators, led by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Mike Braun (R-IN), pressed U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough to provide veterans with access to non-opioid pain management options through the VA system to help prevent addiction before it starts. 

“Active-duty service members, veterans, retirees and their families are not immune to the opioid addiction crisis. Nearly half of combat wounded veterans report misuse of prescription opioids,” the senators wrote. “Drug overdose mortality rates among veterans also increased by 53% from 2010–2019. Therefore, it is even more important to protect veterans from unnecessary exposure to prescription opioids.”

Additional cosigners of the letter include Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), James Lankford (R-OK), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Steve Daines (R-MT), Angus King (I-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Joe Manchin (D-WV), John Boozman (R-AR), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), John Cornyn (R-TX), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and John Barrasso (R-WY).

Full text of the letter can be found here.