Message from Congressman Tonko
Throughout my time in public office, I’ve been a leader in the nationwide effort to combat the disease of addiction. My efforts have covered the gamut of this issue, from fighting hard to expand access to mental health and substance use care to leading the push to address opioid addiction and working to tear down barriers that prevent people from accessing life-saving medications for opioid use disorder.
One linchpin of my efforts to combat addiction is my Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act, also known as the MAT Act, which eliminates outdated, bureaucratic red tape that prevents practitioners from prescribing proven addiction treatments like buprenorphine to their patients. That bill — signed into law last year — increased the number of medical professionals who can prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder from roughly 130,000 to 1.8 million. With this barrier eliminated, our work continues to implement my MAT Act to the fullest extent and make sure treatment is accessible in every community. That goal will require many providers, interests, and communities to step up and lead.
This week, I joined my Republican colleague Mike Turner in an effort to realize the dream of the MAT Act, announcing the sending of dozens of inquiries to hospitals, insurance plans, pharmacies, pharmacists, and providers to gain insight on their ongoing actions, obstacles, and plans to bolster access to buprenorphine for addiction treatment. I look forward to hearing their responses and insights on how we can best move forward to ensure those on the path to recovery have the treatment they need and deserve.
Amidst my important work to bring lifesaving addiction treatment to those who need it, another form of addiction has exploded across our nation — with precious little being done to curb this emerging public health crisis.
In the six years since the U.S. Supreme Court gave the green light for states to legalize sports betting, online gambling has become synonymous with sporting events, with people encouraged by sportsbooks to wager on every pitch, snap, shot, or play. This Wild West environment has wrought devastating results on far too many lives. Left unchecked, the predatory practices employed by this industry will continue to harm countless more individuals, families, and communities. That’s why I’m working to put a stop to this and give sports back to the American people.
This week, I hosted a roundtable discussion at Siena College about the troubling impact of the recent sports betting boom on college athletes in particular. I met with student-athletes, coaches, and administrators to hear their insights about how the rapid expansion of sports gambling has negatively affected the lives of college athletes, including through a significant rise in online abuse they’ve received as a result of “prop bets” on their individual performances.
We also spoke about potential solutions to this issue, including my Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet Act, commonly known as the SAFE Bet Act. This legislation would for the first time institute nationwide consumer protections and standards for the mobile sports gambling industry, with a particular focus on the public health implications of sports betting. In addition to requirements for states offering sports betting to meet minimum federal standards in the areas of advertising, affordability, and artificial intelligence, my SAFE Bet Act would institute a nationwide ban on “prop bets” on college athletes. Earlier this month, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) released a new analysis showing that online posts from angry sports bettors have increased in recent years, now making up at least 12% of publicly posted social media abuse and driving as much as 45% of all online abuse directed at college athletes surrounding some major sports tournaments.
Taken together, the provisions of my legislation are designed to prevent harm before it occurs — and to put an end to a system in which the gambling industry crafts the regulations for its own product, or worse, passes that responsibility on to its consumers.
I’m so thankful for the insights of those I met with this week. Together, we can increase awareness on this growing issue and take action that ensures the public is safe to enjoy gambling on sports as a recreational activity, while also ensuring our athletes can play without the fear of being bombarded with harassment and threats.