Drug czar aspirant gives up amid row
UNITED STATES: The US lawmaker who was President Donald Trump’s pick for drug czar withdrew yesterday after a report he spearheaded a bill that hurt the government’s ability to crack down on opioid makers flooding the market with the addictive painkillers.
Trump had pegged Representative Tom Marino, a Republican from Pennsylvania, to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy, as the administration faces an epidemic of opioid overdoses that is killing tens of thousands of Americans annually.
The position required Senate confirmation.
Trump wrote on Twitter: ‘‘Rep Tom Marino has informed me that he is withdrawing his name from consideration as drug czar. Tom is a fine man and a great Congressman!’’
Marino worked as a federal prosecutor under Republican former President George W Bush, was elected to the House of Representatives in 2010 and served on Trump’s transition team after the Republican president was elected last November.
Marino said he had decided to ‘‘remove the distraction my nomination has created to the utterly vital mission of this premier agency’’.
He defended his role in helping pass the bill that was criticised for weakening attempts to rein in opioid use. He said the legislation would help create ‘‘a balanced solution for ensuring those who genuinely needed access to certain medications were able to do so, while also empowering the Drug Enforcement Agency to enforce the law and prevent the sale and abuse of prescription drugs.’’
Marino said he had been the target of ‘‘unfair reporting’’ and false allegations. and the CBS programme
published an investigation that showed Marino had worked to weaken federal efforts to slow the flow of opioid drugs.
The legislation championed by Marino, which was passed by Congress and signed into law last year by Democratic President Barack Obama, was the product of a drug industry quest to weaken the DEA’s authority to stem the flow of painkillers to the black market, according to the report.
The law made it almost impossible for the DEA to freeze suspicious narcotics shipments, according to government documents cited by the
Trump has been criticised for his response to the opioid epidemic. He has yet to declare it a national emergency as he pledged to do on August 10 following a recommendation by a presidential commission. –