China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Trump declares opioid crisis public health emergency in US
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency on Thursday, stopping short of a national emergency decla-ration he promised months ago that would have freed up more federal money.
Responding to a growing problem wreaking havoc in rural areas, Trump’s decla-ration will redirect federal resources and loosen regu-lations to combat opioid abuse, senior administration offi cials said on a conference call with reporters.
But it does not mean there will be more money to com-bat the crisis. Some critics, including Democratic law-makers, said the declaration was meaningless without additional funding.
“This epidemic is a nation-al health emergency,” Trump said at the White House. “Nobody has seen anything like what’s going on now. As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue.”
The announcement disap-pointed some advocates and experts in the addiction fi ght, who said it was inadequate to fi ght a scourge that played a role in more than 33,000 deaths in 2015, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The death rate has kept rising, estimates show.
Opioids, primarily pre-scription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl, are fueling the drug overdoses. More than 100 Americans die daily from related overdoses, according to the CDC.
A White House commis-sion on the drug crisis had urged Trump to declare a national emergency. On Wednesday, the president told Fox Business Network he would do so.
Officials told reporters on the conference call that Fed-eral Emergency Management Agency funds that would have been released under a nation-al emergency are already exhausted from recent storms that struck Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida.
The administration would have to work with Congress to help provide additional funding to address drug abuse, they added.
Under Thursday’s decla-ration, treatment would be made more accessible for abusers of prescription pain-killers, heroin and fentanyl, while ensuring fewer delays in staffi ng the Department of Health and Human Services to help states grapple with the crisis.
In his remarks, Trump said the US Postal Service and Department of Homeland Security were strengthening the inspection of packages coming into our country to hold back the fl ood of cheap and deadly fentanyl.
He added he would consid-er bringing lawsuits against “bad actors” in the epidemic. Several states have sued opi-oid manufacturers for decep-tive marketing. Congress is investigating the business practices of manufacturers.
The president also said the government should focus on teaching young people not to take drugs. “There is noth-ing desirable about drugs. They’re bad,” he said.
Thursday’s declaration also allows the Department of Labor to issue grants to help dislocated workers affected by the crisis. HIV/AIDS health funding would also be pri-oritized for those who need substance abuse treatment, offi cials said.
As a candidate, Trump promised to address the cri-sis, including by building a wall on the US-Mexico bor-der to stop the fl ow of illicit drugs, which he touched on in his speech.
Additional actions under the move would be announced in coming weeks by vari-ous agencies, officials said.