Trump, First Lady Teaming Up To Address Opioid Epidemic
President Donald Trump pledged Wednesday to battle the deadly epidemic of opioid drug abuse “until our job is done.”
Trump spoke at an annual conference of health, law enforcement, elected and other officials who work to combat drug abuse and addiction. His wife, Melania, introduced him.
“My administration is deploying every resource at our disposal to empower you, to support you and to fight right by your side,” Trump said. “We will not solve this epidemic overnight but we will … never stop until our job is done.”
Today, @FLOTUS Melania and I were honored to join thousands of leaders from across the Country for the 2019 Prescription Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit (@RxSummit) in Atlanta, Georgia! #RxSummit2019https://t.co/LfkFisfN22
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2019
Before leaving the White House for the Atlanta event, Trump said progress was being made in combating the drug scourge.
“It’s a big problem. It’s a big addiction, and we’re handling it,” the president told reporters. “We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress.”
He said doctors, laboratories, clinics and drug companies have assisted the administration.
While there have been signs of progress, including a drop in the number of prescriptions for opioid painkillers, opioid abuse claimed a record of nearly 48,000 American lives in 2017.
An estimated 2 million people are addicted to the drugs, which include both legal prescription pain medications and illegal drugs such as heroin.
While prescription opioids initially accounted for most deaths, the epidemic is now driven by illicit heroin and fentanyl. Those two drugs were implicated in the vast majority of opioid overdoses reported in 2017, according to federal figures.
Trump said the administration has committed $6 billion to combat the crisis, set aside money to prevent youth substance abuse and increased the distribution of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone.
“Pretty amazing stuff,” the president said.
He talked about allowing states to use Medicaid dollars to pay for residential treatment, legislation to help women and babies born dependent on opioids, and treatment for veterans.
Trump also discussed law enforcement efforts, including shutting down online criminal drug-selling networks and more aggressive efforts to seize illegal drugs and stop immigrants from entering the country without authorization.
He said that almost 400 miles of wall will be in place along the border with Mexico by the end of 2020 and that it “will have a tremendous impact on drugs coming into our country.”
The first lady spoke briefly about her visits to hospitals and treatment centers and her meetings with doctors and nurses as part of her own campaign to highlight the “terrible toll the opioid epidemic is having on children and young mothers.”
“My husband is here today because he cares deeply about what you’re doing to help the millions of Americans affected by the opioid epidemic,” she said.
It’s difficult to get a complete and authoritative accounting of how much the federal government is spending to fight opioid abuse since it occurs across many programs, including Medicaid, which doesn’t require annual funding approval from Congress, and dozens of other programs that do.
Trump’s proposed spending blueprint for the coming budget year includes $6.6 billion to curb illicit opioid use. The administration said that is $83 million more than the current year.
The president signed legislation last fall that outlined steps to improve care and access to treatment. It allows nurse practitioners to prescribe addiction treatment medication, boosts incentives for people to get training in addiction medicine and allows Medicare to cover the use of methadone for opioid addiction.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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