South Dakota Senator John Thune addressed the bipartisan Opioid Crisis Response Act, legislation that passed the Senate this week.

Thune on the Senate floor, said last year more than seventy-two thousand Americans died from drug overdoses, and forty nine thousand of those were related to opioids.

He says opioid overdoses have surpassed motor vehicle deaths as the leading cause of accidental death in the country….

Thune says the bill passed this week is a cooperative effort…

Thune says Congress needs to keep the issue as a priority…

Thune says the bill will also address the supply side of the illegal drugs at the border and through the mail.