Story highlights The opioid commission recommends that Trump declare a public health emergency

The White House says it will "immediately" review the recommendation

(CNN) The White House panel examining the nation's opioid epidemic has told President Trump to declare a national public health emergency to combat the ongoing crisis.

"Our citizens are dying. We must act boldly to stop it," the commission, headed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, said in an interim report Monday. "The first and most urgent recommendation of this Commission is direct and completely within your control. Declare a national emergency."

In pushing for the emergency declaration, the commission said that Trump is the "only person who can bring this type of intensity to the emergency and we believe you have the will to do so and to do so immediately."

It is not often that a public health emergency is declared for something other than a natural disaster. The US Department of Health and Human Services declared one in Puerto Rico last year after more than 10,000 Zika cases were reported there. Before that, the last emergency declaration, unrelated to a natural disaster, was during the 2009-10 flu season, when there was widespread concern over a potential pandemic.

Citing the fact that 142 Americans die from drug overdoses every day, the commission said, "America is enduring a death toll equal to September 11th every three weeks."

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