WASHINGTON —President Donald Trump, who promised during his campaign to help solve the opioid epidemic, is scheduled to meet with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price Tuesday to discuss what can be done.
While we’ve heard very few specifics on his plans to combat the growing problem, we do know the President’s budget asks for $10.7 billion for drug treatment, a $200 million increase. However, it would also cut $167 million from abuse prevention.
“We have a 9/11 scale loss of life every three weeks.”
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, chair of the President’s opioid commission, sent the White House a report last week on opioids that indicated, among other things, from 2000 to 2015, more than half a million people died of drug overdoses — opioids account for the majority of those deaths.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced the creation of the Opioid Fraud Abuse and Detection Unit.
“We are going to reverse these trends using every lawful tool we have.”
The opioid commission last week, also asked Mr. Trump to declare a national health emergency. The president has yet to respond.
According to a study from Generations United, it’s estimated that due in part to the opioid catastrophe, at least two and a half million children nationwide are being raised by a relative other than their parents.