TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): So, the president says we need to take this seriously. That's not something you have heard very much from national leaders in the past eight years. Why is this bad?
REP. Tim Ryan (D-OH): Well, it's just not enough. We do not need another commission, we need money to make investments into this problem. The surgeon general just had a report, we just passed a big comprehensive bill on this. We don't need another commission. We know what the problem is.
CARLSON: The problem in large part is pharmacies in places that have -- and there are interactive maps that show this – that have pharmacies prescribing a lot of opioid prescriptions have not surprisingly massive addiction problems. Now this is not the case in the rest of the world, a lot of countries -- pharmacies are not allowed to prescribe opioids. You have to go to your doctor in a hospital for that. Why doesn’t Congress just pass a law tomorrow ending that and that would do a lot to solve the problem. Why aren’t they doing that?
RYAN: I think that's a great idea. I think we have to -- you have to do both. You have to do the prevention, treatment, and all of that stuff, but yet, there needs to be a massive crackdown on these folks. And I, for one would be ready, willing, and able to do it. And that’s what I’m saying with the president. I mean we do not need a commission, we need the president to say what you just said and let's get to work.
CARLSON: I guess I am a little confused. You have seen this firsthand. It is rampant in the district that you represent, as it is in a lot of rural America. I don't understand how Democrats are saying, “Well, taking away Obamacare funding would make this situation worse.” This problem has flowered under the seven years of Obamacare so far. So whatever that program is doing it's clearly not stopping this problem, is it?
RYAN: Well, the Trumpcare provisions were to get rid of the essential benefits package that we put into Obamacare. The essential benefits package included mental health and substance abuse coverage. So if that goes away, that person in Trumbull County, Ohio, if they want to get clean and they can't afford it, or they are on the Medicaid program and then they go to get treatment, they are out of luck.
