Two members of Connecticut's Congressional delegation have been appointed to serve on the conference committee charged with crafting legislation to address the nation’s opioid addiction epidemic.  5th District Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty and Congressman Joe Courtney were appointed Tuesday by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Last week, the House passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, a bill combining several different initiatives to help prevent and treat addiction to heroin and prescription drugs. The Senate passed its own version of that legislation in March. The conference committee will be charged with combining the House and Senate bills into a single piece of legislation that can be sent to the President.

Esty says she wants to help people avoid becoming addicted to drugs in the first place, and to provide municipalities with the resources they need to fight this epidemic.

Esty and Courtney both serve on the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic.