On May 9 and May 17, 2018, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce ordered 59 bills to be reported related to the nation’s response to the opioid epidemic. Because of the large number of related bills ordered reported by the Committee, CBO is publishing a single comprehensive document that includes estimates for each piece of legislation.
H.R. 449, the Synthetic Drug Awareness Act of 2018, would require the Surgeon General to report to the Congress on the health effects of synthetic psychoactive drugs on children between the ages of 12 and 18. Based on spending patterns for similar activities, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 449 would cost approximately $1 million over the 2019-2023 period.