Trump’s opioid plan praised, but some say it’s not enough
WASHINGTON — Like many other Americans on the front lines in the battle against opioid addiction, Albuquerque’s Louella Duran was eager to hear President Donald Trump’s plan Thursday for addressing the urgent public health crisis.
During a White House address, Trump directed his top health official to declare a national public health emergency that provides states with more flexibility in how they use federal funds to battle opioid addiction. But he did not ask Congress to spend more money on the fight.
After the speech, Duran, who works with the nonprofit Albuquerque group Healing Addiction in Our Community, said the president’s remarks, which she watched on TV, left her both encouraged and disappointed.
“I would have liked to see more money, but I’m always hopeful that there is more money that can be tapped,” said Duran, who lost her son, Michael, to an opioid addiction seven years ago. “I am excited that they are thinking outside the box … and I’m looking forward to the plan rolling out,” she told the Journal by phone.
While Trump stopped short of declaring a national emergency that would open the national Disaster Relief Fund to states fighting the public health issue, his directive will give federal officials more license to battle the epidemic within their existing budgets. Opioids include legal prescription drugs, such as oxycodone and fentanyl, and the illicit narcotic heroin. Many opioid addictions start with a dependency on painkillers that morphs into addiction to heroin when the legal prescriptions run out.
“This epidemic is a national health emergency unlike many of us have seen in our lifetimes,” Trump said as he stood next to his wife, Melania, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who heads a presidential commission to address the issue. “As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue. It is time to liberate our communities from the scourge of drug addiction. We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic. We can do it.”
Democrats in New Mexico’s congressional delegation said that although they appreciated Trump putting the White House spotlight on the issue, his plan lacked teeth. The delegation’s only Republican offered qualified praise.
New Mexico is among the states hit hardest by the crisis. The state had 497 drug overdose deaths in 2016, compared with 493 the previous year. Three out of four of those overdose deaths were linked to opioids. In April 2016, the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners proclaimed the opioid overdose epidemic in Bernalillo County to be a public health emergency.
Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins lauded Trump on Thursday for shining a spotlight on the national epidemic.
“We welcome the president’s acknowledgment of the magnitude and seriousness of this problem,” she said. “Those of us in local government have seen firsthand the devastation of opioid abuse in our community and the enormous human and financial costs of this epidemic. Drug addiction is a disease that is tearing families apart, straining our economy, health care and criminal justice systems, and endangering the lives and futures of young people.
Nationally, more than 2 million Americans were addicted to opioids as of 2016, according to the White House. Since 2000, more than 300,000 Americans have died of overdoses involving the drugs. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of injury death in the United States, outnumbering traffic crashes and gun-related deaths.
Trump’s plan doesn’t call for new money to battle the opioid epidemic, but Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall of New Mexico were among a group of Democrats who introduced a bill Wednesday that would provide $45 billion for expanded drug treatment and prevention.
Trump’s order directs federal agencies to use all their legal authority to reduce the number of opioid overdose deaths. That includes allowing more use of telemedicine by addicts in remote parts of the country, and the prescribing of drugs that help treat opioid addiction without the addict having to see a doctor in person. The president’s action also allows the Department of Health and Human Services to more quickly appoint specialists who can best respond to the ongoing public health emergency. Trump said he will also direct the U.S. Postal Service and Department of Homeland Security to strengthen inspection of packages to hold back “the flood of cheap and deadly fentanyl.”
The nation last entered an official public health emergency in 2009 in response to the H1N1 influenza virus. The opioid-related public health emergency will last 90 days but can be renewed repeatedly.
In his speech, Trump referred to his late brother, Fred Trump, whose death stemmed from alcoholism. Trump said his brother urged him not to drink — and the president noted that he took that advice. Trump also said young people should shun drugs and alcohol and suggested that a public awareness campaign could help prevent addiction.
Rep. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat whose district includes Rio Arriba County, which is fighting a multigenerational heroin epidemic, said Trump’s announcement fell short.
“Today’s emergency declaration by the president may bring more awareness to the issue, but it does not solve the problem nor fully address the challenges faced by millions of Americans impacted by the opioid crisis,” Luján said. “This declaration provides no new funding and no new treatment or prevention strategies.”
Udall also said the president’s call to action fell “far short” of the suggestion of Trump’s own opioid commission, which formed last summer. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham said the plan “does little to prevent the more than 500 drug overdose deaths each year in New Mexico,” while Heinrich urged the Trump administration to stop trying to “upend” the Medicaid system, which helps pay for addiction treatment.
Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., said Trump’s plan “was a good step to combat drug addiction, but this is just the beginning.”