U.S. Congressman Greg Walden met with the public in Boardman on Tuesday to talk about bills he is working on and issues that concern Morrow County residents.
Walden opened his town hall meeting with a discussion on the opioid epidemic facing Oregon and the rest of the country. The Republican from Hood River said addictions to prescription pain killers are “destroying lives and communities.”
He said as many as 100 million opioid pills are prescribed each year – double the number from the year 2000. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19,000 Americans died from an overdose of opioids in 2014.
“There’s been an epidemic in use and its as bad or worse than meth,” he said. Walden said he’s had a hand in a dozen pieces of legislation aimed at addressing the issue, including allowing partial prescriptions to be filled when a patient knows he or she won’t need the entire prescription. That, said Walden, will help prevent unused pills from being accessible in the home.
Walden held a roundtable discussion later in the day at Good Shepherd Medical Center to talk more in depth on the issue.
Several Boardman residents asked Walden for help in freeing up waterfront property for recreational use. The property is owned by the U.S. Corps of Engineers by the Bureau of Indian Affairs has first right of refusal on property leases. Up to now, the bureau has not indicated to the Corps what, if anything, they would do with the land, leaving it in limbo. Walden said he believed there should be some sort of deadline for the bureau to make a claim or otherwise allow the city to work with the Corps to develop it for recreational purposes.
Walden also talked about e-mail privacy laws and the first update to them since 1986. Until recently, authorities did not need to obtain a search warrant to look at e-mails older than 180 days.
“It’s about time we updated the laws – it’s only been 30 years,” he said.
Walden was also asked whether he thought the Senate should hold confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee to fill the U.S. Supreme Court seat that was held by the late Antonin Scalia.
“I think they should have done hearings,” Walden said. “But I’m sort of a process kind of guy.”
Walden also honored Morrow County Judge Terry Tallman for his many years of service to the region.
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