Pros: Move vague, just a ‘first step’

TACKLING OPIOIDS’ TRAGIC TOLL

sounded reminiscent of the 1980s “Just Say No” campaign, might have a similar impact. “If we can teach young people, and people generally, not to start, it’s really, really easy not to take ’em,” he said — although many of those hooked on the drugs were prescribed the pills to help with chronic pain.

The audience at Thursday’s proclamation included parents who have lost children to drug overdoses, people who have struggled with addiction and first responders whose have used overdose reversal drugs to save lives.

The President has also urged Congress to add money to a public health emergency fund that hasn’t been replenished for years and shift funding for HIV and AIDS programs to provide more substance abuse treatment for people already eligible for those programs.

The Public Health Emergency Fund currently contains just $57,000, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Christie, who’d reportedly urged Trump to take stronger action, called the President’s moves “an extraordinary beginning set of steps to dealing with this problem.”

Critics said Trump’s words carry little weight without the funds to back them up.

“How can you say it’s an emergency if we’re not going to put a new nickel in it?” said Dr. Joseph Parks, medical director of the nonprofit National Council for Behavioral Health, which advocates for addiction treatment providers. “As far as moving the money around,” he added, “that’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

New York City’s First Lady, Chirlane McCray, blasted Trump for not declaring a national state of emergency.

“It’s on us, as public leaders, to do everything in our power to prevent more deaths and family suffering,” McCray said. “No more half measures, Mr. President. It’s time to take real action and invest in saving lives.”

Senior administration officials stressed that the Trump administration has already taken steps to bolster the federal response to the opioid crisis, including prosecuting distributors of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid, and strengthening guidelines for how opioids are prescribed for pain.

But the administration still doesn’t have a permanent Health and Human Services secretary or a director of the Drug Enforcement Agency, and Trump’s pick for drug czar, Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) recently withdrew his nomination after he was criticized for writing a law that opponents said weakened the government’s authority to stop companies from distributing opioids.

And it remains unclear what impact Trump’s new order will have on the crisis.

Despite rising public alarm about the epidemic, the unmet need for treatment remains enormous, with just 1 in 10 addicted Americans getting specialty treatment, according to the U.S. Surgeon General. PRESIDENT Trump’s declaration of the opioid crisis as a nationwide public health emergency on Thursday and his promises to combat the worst drug epidemic in history got mixed reviews from opioid experts.

“The President’s speech was overall short on specifics,” said Paul Hanly, a partner with Simmons Hanly Conroy, which has sued several pharmaceutical companies over aggressive and fraudulent marketing of prescription opium-like painkillers. “There was a vagueness about what he was saying.”

Hanly said he was optimistic about Trump’s promise to prosecute “bad actors” and pursue prescribers and opioid manufacturers.

But, he cautioned, nothing is being done to stem the flow of cash from pharmaceutical companies to Congress.

Others said Trump’s declaration fell short of his promises.

“It’s a first step, but if we’re really serious about this — momentum really has to build from here,” said Andrew Kessler, who runs Slingshot Solutions, a consulting firm that specializes in substance abuse policy.

Kessler suggested the declaration has no teeth, due to the fact that no funding is going to be made available to implement emergency protocols.

“We need to be in it for the long haul,” he said.

By not declaring a national emergency, Trump ensured that the fight against opioid addiction will remain underfunded, Kessler said.

“The route the President chose to take is what’s been used in the past for disease emergencies, so it’s not surprising they went in that the direction,” he said.

The longer fight will be keeping the public aware of the issue, training medical professionals and keeping Medicaid funded, Kessler added.

Dr. Indra Cidambi, the medical director at the Center for Network Therapy in Middlesex, N.J., and vice president of the New Jersey Society of Addiction Medicine, praised the President’s decision to address addiction but said the steps outlined fall short of what’s needed to end the epidemic.

“When you go through the proposals there are a lot of things it won’t do,” Cidambi said.