eastern company house homeland security committee holds a hearing on children held in custody by u.s. customs and border protection. we will have live coverage here on c-span. later this afternoon, president trump will give an update on u.s. infrastructure needs. watch that line from alanna at 3:10 eastern. >> sunday night on q&a, the american conservative executive director and acting editor on the special edition of the magazine. >> i conceived of the project because there's a lot going on in our country right now. it is unsettling times for a number of americans. everything having to do with the covid crisis to the lockdowns to the killing of george floyd and and riots protests and the presidential election. a lot of people are taking the opportunity to re-examine first principles and trying to figure out where we stand as a nation.

>> watched sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. beth connelly studies opioid use prevention and thetment in her role as project director at the pew charitable trust. y, oneonnol headline on the opioid pandemic during the coronavirus pandemic, opioid overdoses are skyrocketing as covid-19 sweeps across the u.s. and the old epidemic returns. can you describe what we are seeing and what the data shows pond opioid use in the past four months? crisisthe opioid overuse has been exacerbated by covid-19. 2 million people have an opioid abuse disorder. people are 10

actually able to receive treatment for their opioid use disorder. because of covid, people are isolated, people are not able to reach their support systems, and being alone has complicated people's ability to be connected and connect to their treatment and support systems. the numberown that of opioid overdoses has increased. we are hearing that from a number of states. host: towards the beginning of social distancing and when things were being shut down there was perhaps some hope that social distancing and the closing of borders and more enforcement might disrupt a drug supply chain for dangerous opioids. has that been the case at all or was that a misplaced hope? guest: we have been studying

att, we have been looking the treatment and availability of treatment. when a public health emergency was declared, the federal government did allow flexibility to states to increase the availability of treatment, evidence-based treatment is a key for opioid abuse disorder. time ofre is a emergency there are often increases. gotten increases after deepwater horizon, superstorm sandy, and the coronavirus is no different. the federal government allows states flexibilities in offering treatment in ways that were not offered before. methadone,mple is people use methadone to treat opioid abuse disorders, were required to go through an opioid abuse program every day to pick up their medication. canr the flexibility people take home up to 20 days of

medication, thereby not having public and interact with a practitioner or provider to receive their medication. used to have counseling and

if line for those who have been impacted by the epidemic. independents, (202) 748-8002. in, the are calling u.s. congress has appropriated somewhere between $2.6 trillion and $3 trillion for the coronavirus response. how much money within that is specifically targeted for studying the opioid epidemic amid the pandemic?

than $400ittle more million has been authorized by congress and provided to the substance abuse health services administration and the funding goes to samsa and is attributed to the state -- distributed to the states. host: what are some ways the money can be used. ? ? guest: it has been used to increase treatment for opioid misuse disorder, implemented -- implementing the flexibilities that i spoke of. it is to increase treatment for people recognizing that as you mentioned, there has been an increase in opioid overdoses. host: is there other money that is being cut or programs that are not seeing the support amid

the total focus of moving the government toward responding to the pandemic? i ask because of a story that notes that a former director of the west virginia office of drug control policy, in that story he points to a federal health institution that shifted its focus to coronavirus including freezing $1 billion in a research project that had been aimed at finding a less addictive pain treatment. this is his quote from the guardian. oxygen out of the room and made coronavirus the sole focus of what is happening." line there is also critique about the crisis. it is more like global warming. it is happening, it is slow and dangerous, but it is not happening at the same speed and scale of coronavirus right now. guest: the federal government acted very quickly in the public health emergency by offering

states flexibility to address the coronavirus for people -- recognizing that people needed to physically distanced, people needed to be quarantined, allowing access to medications in a way that they never have and meeting the goal of making sure that treatment is available. it is an evidence-based treatment. we know that the best way to treat opioid abuse disorder is medication that has been proven better at sustaining recovery than an abstinence-based program. there is medication that treats opioid abuse disorders. relaxations and flexibilities, we have seen increase in access to treatment. host: we have some calls for you this morning. beth connolly with us until the bottom of the hour. john is first out of new york on

the line for those who have been impacted by the opioid epidemic. john, good morning. i would like to say that it saved my life by not being able to get on the streets anymore. -- goforced to go with through withdrawal and i had not touched anything sense. host: john, thank you for sharing your story. guest: thank you so much. host: beth connolly, on that aspect of the coronavirus and social distancing? distancing really has created isolation for people because they have lost some of their support system, people who may be using drugs alone and may not have access to support. if they overdose, the increase totelemedicine has helped

beef up the support system so people can access care. host: felix out of north carolina. good morning. morning, how are you all on this wonderful day? host: good morning. caller: i have a specific question. amike the previous caller, i 100% physically disabled and my chronic pain is always up around two to 10. i have 13 vertebrae and appendages are messed up. i feel opioid treatment under medicalhful eye of personnel with no problem. people were going to doctors instead of drug dealers getting things that were contra-indicated. they started these drug tests. that is what my specific question is. these drug screens that are done