As it turns out, a presidential declaration of national emergency doesn't amount to much.

When President Trump announced in early August, following a presidential commission’s recommendations, that the opioid crisis was a “national emergency,” he called it “a serious problem the likes of which we have never had.” A month has now passed, and that urgent talk has yet to translate into urgent action. While the president’s aides say they are pursuing an expedited process, it remains to be seen how and by what mechanism Mr. Trump plans to direct government resources.

Just to expand a bit on that point there, it's not just that Donald Trump somehow surprised his staff with his declaration that the opioid crisis was a "national emergency"—his own presidential commission recommended that he do so. No, he shocked everyone by actually saying it, and then ... doing nothing.

Nobody was prepared for the obvious question: "So, um, now what?"

His statements have left advisers scrambling to fulfill his pledge, creating a long lag between a presidential statement and an actual action to follow it.

The central problem appears to be that doing something about the opioid crisis would require money, and nobody is interested in spending that money, and House Republicans would never allocate the money anyway, so the administration is simply ... stuck.