Trump Donates Second-Quarter Salary To Help Fight Opioid Crisis
President Donald Trump will donate his second quarter salary to the Surgeon General’s office to support the fight against opioid addiction and inform the public about the dangers of youth e-cigarette usage.
“The President recognizes the important mission of the Surgeon General to protect and improve the health of all Americans, including helping to tackle the opioid epidemic and raise awareness of the dangers of e-cigarette usage among teenagers and children,” the White House said in a statement, according to USA Today.
That outlet reported the $100,000 will be used to fund an upcoming public health advisory.
When Trump ran for office, he pledged that he would not accept his $400,000 per year salary.
However, because he is required to be paid by law, the president has been donating his salary each quarter to various government agencies.
During his first year in office, he gave to the Department of Transportation, the Department of Education to support a science summer camp, and the National Park Service for restoration projects at the Antietam National Battlefield.
Last year, Trump contributed to the Small Business Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, The Hill reported.
Trump, who is a teetotaler, has spoken on multiple occasions about the terrible sense of loss he felt when his older brother Fred Trump died from the effects of alcoholism in the early 1980s. He was only 43 years old.
In October 2017, while announcing an anti-opioid campaign, Trump said he learned from his brother’s alcoholism the importance of never even trying addictive substances.
“The fact is, if we can teach young people — and people, generally — not to start, it’s really, really easy not to take them,” he said.
“And I think that’s going to end up being our most important thing,” Trump continued. “Really tough, really big, really great advertising, so we get to people before they start, so they don’t have to go through the problems of what people are going through.”
Trump expressed hope the battle against opioid addiction can be won.
“It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction,” the president proclaimed. “We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic. We can do it.”
Surgeon General Jerome Adams thanked Trump for donating his salary to help educate the public on these issues.
Grateful to @POTUS for dedicating part of his salary to support #PublicHealth. My office will put these resources to good use to raise awareness about an important issue impacting our communities. Stay tuned! https://t.co/xma9LpljbW
— U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) August 16, 2019
“Grateful to @POTUS for dedicating part of his salary to support #PublicHealth,” Adams tweeted. “My office will put these resources to good use to raise awareness about an important issue impacting our communities. Stay tuned!”
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