The number of drug overdoses in 2016 is expected to exceed 64,000 Americans, according to the White House. On Thursday, President Trump said the country needed to fight a "worldwide" opioid epidemic.
- President Trump to take aim at opioid crisis in U.S.
- Declared opioid crisis a public health emergency
- Trump administration will be looking at taskforce recommendations
President Donald Trump officially declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in a White House ceremony Thursday.
This declaration will allow the government to make resources available for state government, and the president said a taskforce will be bringing back "common sense" recommendations to fight the epidemic.
Trump said the administration will also be looking at bringing federal lawsuits against "bad actors" -- people and companies -- who are exacerbating the epidemic.
The president also called on the National Institutes of Health to be pushing development of non-addictive painkillers.
The president also touted pushing for effective advertising to get people to avoid the drugs before they start using them.
Pelosi: "Show me the money"
Following the president's announcements, critics questioned where the additional funding the declaration should push to state and local agencies will come from.
“What I would say to the President is 'show me the money,'" said House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi. “Declaring an emergency means he can have access to some funds, but the funds in that account are like $50-56,000 dollars. So show me the money.”
The President is acting on recommendations from the Opioid Commission. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is on that commission, and there has been speculation that she could be appointed the nation's "drug czar" by President Trump.
Bondi has downplayed that possibility, and even publicly questioned if the position is necessary.
Earlier efforts trickling to affected areas
At a congressional hearing Wednesday in Washington, Republicans and Democrats shared frustration as they questioned top administration officials about federal spending to fight a crisis that kills tens of thousands of people each year.
"Right now, we see delays from when patients are able to enter treatment because we do not have residential treatment in our community or opioid specific detox," said Malissa Sprenger, a coordinator with Mercy Turning Point Treatment Facility. "So these are some things that we are diligently working on."
Nearly a year after Congress approved an extraordinary $1 billion to tackle the opioid crisis, the money that poured into all 50 states is gradually reaching places where it can do some good, but with some setbacks and delays along the way.
In some locations, people addicted to opioids are starting to get treatment for the first time. In others, bureaucratic hurdles prevent innovation, driving home the point that gaining ground on the epidemic will be difficult. There’s one constant: It takes time for government grants to trickle down to real people.
Opioid Public Health Emergency -- Trump Administration Fact Sheet
The following information was sent by the White House regarding the opioid public health emergency:
A PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY: President Donald J. Trump is mobilizing his entire Administration to address drug addiction and opioid abuse by directing the declaration of a Nationwide Public Health Emergency to address the opioids crisis.
- The action allows for expanded access to telemedicine services, including services involving remote prescribing of medicine commonly used for substance abuse or mental health treatment.
- The action helps overcome bureaucratic delays and inefficiencies in the hiring process, by allowing the Department of Health and Human Services to more quickly make temporary appointments of specialists with the tools and talent needed to respond effectively to our Nation’s ongoing public health emergency.
- The actions allows the Department of Labor to issue dislocated worker grants to help workers who have been displaced from the workforce because of the opioid crisis, subject to available funding.
- The action allows for shifting of resources within HIV/AIDS programs to help people eligible for those programs receive substance abuse treatment, which is important given the connection between HIV transmission and substance abuse.
- The CDC has launched the Prescription Awareness Campaign, a multimedia awareness campaign featuring the real-life stories of people who have lost loved ones to prescription opioid overdose and people in recovery.
- The Food and Drug Administration is imposing new requirements on the manufacturers of prescription opioids to help reverse the overprescribing that has fueled the crisis.
- The Department of Justice’s Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit is targeting individuals that are contributing to the prescription opioid epidemic, has netted the largest-ever health care fraud takedown, secured the first-ever indictments against Chinese fentanyl manufacturers, and seized AlphaBay, the largest criminal marketplace on the Internet and a major source of fentanyl and heroin.
- The State Department has secured a binding UN agreement making it harder for criminals to access fentanyl precursors ANPP and NPP.
- The National Institutes of Health has initiated discussions with the pharmaceutical industry to establish a partnership to investigate non-addictive pain relievers and new addiction and overdose treatments, as well as a potential vaccine for addiction.
- The Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Health and Human Services are collaborating on a six-year, $81 million joint research partnership focusing on nondrug approaches to managing pain in order to address the needs of service members and veterans.