Declaring a crisis NurPhoto/Getty

Back in August, Donald Trump announced that he intended to declare the US opioid crisis – which is killing tens of thousands of people a year – a national emergency. Now he’s done it.

“Effective today, my administration is officially declaring the opioid crisis a national public health emergency under federal law, and why I am directing all executive agencies to use every appropriate emergency authority to fight the opioid crisis,” he said in a speech on 26 October, before signing a presidential memorandum.

The directive calls for increased access to telemedicine in rural areas with doctor shortages, a shuffling of federal funding so more can be applied to the crisis, and some easing of regulations and bureaucratic delays that could otherwise slow down efforts.


However, because the emergency was declared through the Public Health Services Act, it doesn’t automatically come with any additional funding, and President Trump hasn’t yet requested any.

Rather than pushing for emergency aid that could be used to directly help those already suffering from opioid addictions, Trump discussed ways the US could prevent use to begin with.

Advertising effort

The president suggested that targeted advertising campaigns could curtail opioid use. “The fact is, if we can teach young people — and people, generally – not to start, it’s really, really easy not to take them,” he said. “Really tough, really big, really great advertising, so we get to people before they start, so they don’t have to go through the problems of what people are going through.”

He also said that because a significant portion of opioids entering the country come from Latin America, his proposed border wall would boost efforts. “We will be building a wall which will greatly help in this problem,” he said. “It will have a great impact.”

But the opioid crisis is not only an illegal drug problem – large numbers of people have become addicted to opioids through painkillers prescribed to them by physicians.

Many have said that the lack of additional federal funds will greatly limit what the directive can actually accomplish. In a tweet, Senator Bernie Sanders said, “Trump is right that the opioid crisis is a national emergency. Unfortunately, his announcement today was nothing more than an empty promise.”

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