Washington (December 15, 2023) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) issued the following statement after Congress passed the Department of Defense Overdose Data (DOD) Act as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The DOD Act will address the impacts of the opioid epidemic among members of the U.S. military and their family. 

“The federal government has a responsibility to protect the lives of service members, many of whom are impacted by the overdose crisis that has reached every corner of our country. Over the last five years, we’ve lost hundreds of members of the military to overdose. This is a preventable crisis, and failing to act is immoral and a betrayal of the commitment we made to our servicemembers. By requiring the Department of Defense to track and report on overdose data and distribute overdose reversal medication to servicemembers, we will help ensure no one else loses a loved one in uniform to a drug overdose. We look forward to this essential legislation being signed into law and the lives it will save in communities all across our country.”

Specifically, the DOD Act as passed by Congress would require the Department of Defense to: 

1. Report annually on overdoses among members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force and related data, including demographic data, substances involved, number of intentional overdoses, number of members prescribed or provided naloxone prior to overdose, previous prescriptions, co-morbid mental health diagnoses, referral to treatment, history of positive drug tests, analysis of discernible patterns in overdoses, existing and anticipated response efforts, access to treatment, and available treatment programs, and; 
2. Ensure naloxone and any other medication to reverse opioid overdose is available on all military installations and in each operational environment. 

Cosponsors in the Senate include Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Angus King (I-Maine), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), and John Fetterman (D-Pa.). 

In September, Senator Markey led his colleagues in an?investigation?into fatal overdose deaths among active duty U.S. service members. He later?revealed?to the public for the first time that the?Department of Defense reported 322 fatal overdoses among active duty service members between 2017 and 2021, and as many as 14,961 non-fatal overdoses from 2017 to the present. Of those fatal overdoses, 174 involved fentanyl, 54 of which occurred in 2021. From 2017 to 2021, 31 fatal overdoses occurred at Fort Bragg alone.?