Trump Declares Opioid Crisis a ‘Health Emergency’ but Requests No Funds
But even as he vowed to alleviate the scourge of drug addiction and abuse
that has swept the country — a priority that resonated strongly with the working-class voters who supported his presidential campaign — Mr. Trump fell short of fulfilling his promise in August to declare “a national emergency” on opioids, which would have prompted the rapid allocation of federal funding to address the issue.
In July, the commission recommended that the president declare a national emergency — either under the Stafford Act, which would have
allowed the allocation of Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, or the Public Health Service Act, the option Mr. Trump chose.
“Instead of a commitment to emergency funding for our states and communities, President Trump offered empty words and half-measures.”
Andrew Kolodny, the co-director of opioid policy research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, said
that no emergency declaration would do much to alleviate the impact of opioids without a substantial commitment of federal money and a clear strategy for overhauling the way the country treats addiction.
“This was an idea that I had, where if we can teach young people not to take drugs,” Mr. Trump said, “it’s really, really easy not to take them.” He shared the story of his brother Fred, who he said had struggled with alcohol addiction throughout his life
and implored Mr. Trump never to take a drink — advice the president said he had heeded.
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday directed the Department of Health
and Human Services to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency, taking long-anticipated action to address a rapidly escalating epidemic of drug use.