Marysville Appeal-Democrat

Trump talks opioids fight, yet funding cuts blunt plans

- Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump vowed Monday to end the “scourge of drug addiction in America,” even as his administra­tion continues to push significan­t cuts to health care assistance used to combat addiction.

“Failure is not an option,” Trump said in a meandering speech at Manchester Community College in New Hampshire, the state with the first presidenti­al primary and one he has long used to highlight the drug problem devastatin­g communitie­s nationwide. “Addiction is not our future.”

Although Trump once again spoke extensivel­y about expanding the federal death penalty for drug dealers, his administra­tion released a three-page list of proposals before his speech that ruled out any change to existing federal law, suggesting instead that the Justice Department would take a more aggressive stance toward those offenders already eligible to be put to death based on other capital offenses, such as drug-related murders.

Trump’s proposal also included an initiative to cut prescripti­ons for opioids by one-third over the next three years.

The proposal lacks details on federal spending, however. That, and the administra­tion’s separate proposals for major cuts to Medicaid, the chief source of funds for people seeking treatment for drug addiction, President Donald Trump greets New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie after he signed a presidenti­al memorandum to declare the nation’s opioid crises a public health emergency on Oct. 26, 2017, in Washington, D.C.

is causing advocates to question the president’s commitment.

“I’m not sure we can really call this a plan,”

said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, co-director of Opioid Policy Research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

“It’s more like a platform. It’s a list of ideas about addressing the opioid crisis, some of which are helpful, some which sound like a step backward,” he continued. “But what we still don’t have from the administra­tion is a plan of action.”

Kolodny said the administra­tion needs to make a long-term commitment to therapy, on the order of $6 billion a year for the next decade, so that people suffering from addiction can have immediate treatment options that will dissuade them from an easy $20 fix.

Administra­tion officials have shifted questions about funding to Congress, which has yet to coalesce on how to address the epidemic, much less how to pay for a plan.

Congress has appropriat­ed some additional money in recent years, including $6 billion over two years in the most recent spending bill. Yet public health advocates and others, including some Republican state officials, say the aid has been woefully inadequate.

Trump’s pledge won qualified support from at least some Democrats.

“I support many of the policies that the president put forward in a draft plan prior to his speech, much of which was recommende­d by the president’s opioid commission last year. What’s been missing is follow through,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. “We need the president to commit to providing the resources necessary to win this fight.”

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