US president Donald Trump declares opioid epidemic a national emergency

The White House commission examining the nation’s opioid epidemic had told Trump last week that declaring a national public health emergency would be an immediate help in combating the ongoing crisis.

“Addressing the opioid epidemic is a top priority for the President Donald Trump and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy”, Baum said in a statement.

On Tuesday, following a meeting with Trump, Price insisted that a national emergency should only be used for time-sensitive health crises like Zika or other outbreaks.

“Second, declaring an emergency allows temporary waivers of many rules regarding federal programs”, Humphreys said.

The commission and the strike force also recommend increased availability of naloxone, an overdose counteragent commonly known by the brand name Narcan, and more funding to develop fentanyl-detecting sensors to prevent the powerful opioid synthetic from either crossing the USA border or getting sent through the mail.

The recommendations presented to the president, included improved prescription tracking; increased treatment and education on substance use; and a call to ensure law enforcement always carry the counter-overdose drug naloxone. Right now there’s a limit on the number of beds they can have.

“The disease of addiction is a national emergency, and every delay means more loved ones will die”, he said. “You wouldn’t hesitate in calling when someone has a heart attack”. Getting people into treatment, the correct treatment, has been a barrier. If they don’t start, they won’t have a problem.

And there’s no slowing down of the availability of the drugs: one in every three American adults was prescribed an opioid drug in 2015.

“The opioid crisis is an emergency”, Trump told reporters at his New Jersey country club, where he is on a two-week working vacation.

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The opioid epidemic has struck especially hard in areas that overwhelmingly supported Trump. If people can not access affordable health care, then enforcing parity laws will have no benefit to those individuals and families.

Jacobs, the co-chair of the state Senate Heroin Task Force, said the governor should look at taking similar actions as the president. We’re going to be bringing them up and bringing them up graphically.

“I believe this is a message from the president and the White House that help is on the way”, Williams said.

In Johnson County, the health department is trying to stay ahead. “Law enforcement officers throughout OH have told me that we can not arrest our way out of this problem”. This is a chronic health condition.

Jenkins, who helped in the creation of Lily’s Place, called Cardinal Health’s claim “an outrage”.

In fact, while drug overdoses happen all over the world, the U.S. leads by a significant margin. “No one thinks the recovery from this is going to be fast, emergency or not”.

He added opioids are “a worldwide problem, not just a United States problem”.

“This crisis is growing and requires an escalated response”, Capito said. “We need to aggressively pursue drug dealers who are preying on our communities”. “This is a community issue, and it is going to take really the energy of the community to address it”, said Marsh.

CORNISH: So be patient is your answer.

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