Understanding Trump’s Declaration on the Opioid Crisis

FEATURING GRANT SMITH – President Trump last week declared the opioid addiction crisis a ‘public health emergency,’ which is a step short of calling it a ‘national emergency.’ Trump had said in August that he would declare the nation’s worst drug addiction crisis in history a ‘national emergency.’

His declaration enables funding from the Public Health Emergency Fund but critics pointed out that the fund is nearly empty and that Trump’s designation only lasts 90 days. Comedian John Oliver over the weekend concluded that the funding amounted to “literally two cents” per addict.

Trump also claimed that his border wall and tougher immigration laws would stop heroin from flowing into the nation.

The Drug Policy Alliance, which is one of the nation’s leading organizations tackling the drug war, issued a statement saying, “Trump’s approach to drugs ignores the facts about the causes of the opioid overdose crisis, stigmatizes immigrants, and doubles down on policies that have already proven not only ineffective, but devastating for people across the United States, particularly among communities of color.”

For more information visit Drug Policy Alliance.

Grant Smith, Deputy Director of National Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance.