Senator James Lankford has been on tour in Oklahoma over recent weeks and a common topic among constituents has been drug abuse. The opioid epidemic has been well chronicled locally, but Lankford siad the use of methamphetamine has his attention as well. He said a major concern of his the addictiveness of opioids and he will continue to do subcommittee work with the National Institutes of Health to try to develop non-addictive alternatives.

Last year, Lankford supported a $2 billion bill for funding to be provided to the National Institute of Health for medical research. The bill also provided important provisions to ensure greater transparency in the institute's spending to eliminate waste and ensure tax dollars are only spent on prudent scientific research.