Tuesday evening I was working on an English paper and watching MSNBC in the College of Charleston Multicultural Center. That evening, I saw President Obama sign the “Cures” Bill into action. I had never heard of this bill beforehand, and I was pleasantly surprised that Congress had worked in a bipartisan way to have this bill passed. What is the “Cures” Bill (now officially called the 21st Century Cures Act)? Why is it important?

According to CBS News, the act “includes provisions to expand medical research, invest in mental health resources and combat the prescription and opioid drug epidemic.” While watching the bill-signing process, I learned that the bill provides money for cancer research (which is close to Vice President Joe Biden’s heart; his son, Beau, suffered and died because of brain cancer). Investment in mental health resources is very important to me, too, because of my and my loved ones’ struggles with mental illness. I am so ready for its importance to be recognized on a national level. As for the prescription and opioid drug epidemic, I thought of my hometown, my family, and famous artists such as Billie Holiday and Kurt Cobain. These addictions should be viewed more as illnesses than as crimes, which is what I understand this bill to be doing.

What will happen in the future with this bill, especially with Obama’s administration coming to an end? In the same

article, CBS News explains, “The 21st Century Cures Act...will allocate nearly five billion dollars to fund projects under the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including...Biden’s ‘cancer moonshot’ research and the president’s Precision Medicine Initiative. [Approximately] $500 million will be diverted to the [FDA] so it can develop tools to improve the efficiency of the drug approval process, which can take ten or more years.” One can only speculate that the president-elect will try to have this act repealed -- as it is a part of “Obamacare" -- but we

will have to hope for a better, healthier future -- especially with a divided Congress passing this bill in the next two years.