Sheen Inspires Rep. Mary Bono Mack To Call For Drug Abuse Hearings
After Charlie Sheen’s recent tour of the daytime and nighttime talk shows, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, announced on Wednesday she has called for hearings about the problem of prescription drug abuse in the nation,.
Bono Mack co-chairs the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse, and she said she was saddened but not surprised by the behavior of Sheen on television.
“Addiction continues to be a serious and rapidly escalating problem across America,” she said. “Mr. Sheen’s dismissal of treatment, as well as his mockery of the millions of people in recovery, is extremely disappointing.”
The representative said she decided to use Sheen’s case, and shed light on the pervasive addiction involving prescription medication.
Drug Enforcement Administration statistics show the problem is only getting worse, according to Bono Mack.
“Public attention is now focused on the life-and-death struggle that addictions pose to families everywhere, in every town, in every neighborhood in America,” she said. “Few things are more destructive.”
Bono Mack directed the staff of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, which she chairs, to begin laying the groundwork for public hearings into prescription drug abuse.
“It’s critically important for our children to realize that living in a ‘make-believe world’ like Mr. Sheen has real-life consequences,” she said.
