Following a press conference held by Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb (R,C-Canandaigua), Assemblyman Dave McDonough (R,C,I-Merrick) is calling on Assembly leadership to vote on legislation to address the state’s growing heroin and opioid addiction crisis. The Senate recently passes a package of 41 bills and recommendations to address the addiction crisis.

“This is an issue that knows no bounds,” McDonough said. “Addiction is a disease and people from all walks of life are affected by it. The Minority Conference has had solutions on the table for several months but Assembly leadership would rather vote on commemorating the Anniversary of Cheerios than taking measures to save lives and purge this poison from our society. I hope we can get solutions passed before the legislature adjourns later this month.”

The Assembly Minority held a series of forums last year to gather input and concerns from frontline stakeholders in communities across the state, but Majority leadership in the Assembly refuses to act on the issue with at least one Majority member supporting supervised shoot-up shacks for addicts to legally inject drugs.

“I am calling on the governor to use a message of necessity as a means to bring legislation to the floor for a vote immediately,” McDonough said. “This is a serious issue that deserves serious attention and if a message of necessity can be used for things like the budget, it can surely be used when lives are on the line.”