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A comprehensive approach to addressing the opioid crisis should encompass safe injection sites, former White House drug czar Michael Botticelli said during a discussion in Portland Friday at Central City Concern.

"If you wait until they have an overdose, it's too late," said Botticelli, who served in the Obama White House and is now the executive director of Boston Medical Center's Grayken Center for Addiction Medicine. "We need to think about things like expanding needle exchange programs."

U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici got an earful about how young people are affected by opioid use during a panel discussion that followed up five sessions she has conducted in the 1st Congressional District of northwest Oregon.

The Oregon Democrat sits on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, a subcommittee of which held a hearing on the issue in mid-February.

PORTLAND, Ore. — U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, says there should be comprehensive gun control legislation, starting with universal background checks and closing the "gun show loophole."

WASHINGTON - Sen, Jeff Merkley and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., announced Friday they have introduced bipartisan legislation to make hospitals safer for nurses and patients.

The Safe Staffing for Nurse and Patient Safety Act of 2018, modeled in part from Oregon's safe staffing legislation, requires hospitals participating in Medicare to implement adequate staffing plans for nursing services and establishes whistleblower protections for patients and employees. Rep. David Joyce (R-OH) is the lead Republican sponsor of the legislation.

The school shooting that left 17 dead last week in Parkland, Florida sparked familiar feelings for many Americans: dread, outrage, futility.

Many asked what lawmakers could and would do to keep people safe from shooting rampages.

The Oregonian/OregonLive asked each of Oregon's members of Congress what they think should be done to prevent mass shootings and what specific policies they would support. Among their suggestions: Allow research on gun violence, ban bump stocks and institute universal background checks.

Responses are below, in alphabetical order.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Democratic members of Congress are calling on congressional leaders to hold hearings on school shootings following a massacre at a Florida high school that left 17 dead and scores more wounded Wednesday.

The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, allegedly carried out by a student who had been expelled, is the deadliest high school shooting in the nation's history and marked another spate of violence ata time when gun violence in schools has become routine.