Trump Administration To Declare Opioid Crisis A Public Health Emergency

[DonViejo]

Source: NPR




October 26, 20175:02 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition

GREG ALLEN

The Trump administration will declare a public health emergency to deal with the opioid epidemic Thursday, freeing up some resources for treatment. More than 140 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

President Trump is also expected to direct agency and department heads to use all appropriate emergency authorities to reduce number of deaths caused by the opioid crisis, according to senior administration officials.

The move stops short of declaring the crisis a national emergency, which Trump first said he'd declare in August. He repeated that pledge this week. The White House said it determined that declaring a public health emergency was more appropriate than a national emergency.

Some in the field, like Dr. Andrew Kolodny, say it's been frustrating to wait for the administration to respond to a crisis Trump first acknowledged on the campaign trail when he was running for president.



Read more: http://www.npr.org/2017/10/26/560083795/president-trump-may-declare-opioid-epidemic-national-emergency

[Iliyah]

1. Yeah, but healthcare is being destroyed.

Who will pay for crisis?

[ck4829]

2. "I'm making a declaration so I can later declare that this is worthy of being declared an emergency"

Pretty much sums it up IMHO.

[Thor_MN]

3. The problem for the Rethugs is figuring out how to turn a profit for their donors from it.

No doubt there will be a few no-bid contracts for millions of dollars awarded to some shell companies with connections in the near future.

[randr]

5. They turned a profit on the drug war by incarcerating black Americans with drug issues

through investments in private prisons.
Guess they are not willing to use the same method for white drug addicts.
They will come up with a way to turn a profit from both ends of this; they profit from the supply and will find a profit in the cure.

[Thor_MN]

7. Jailing non whites has election advantages as well...

A big part of the drug, besides for-profit private prisons, is suppressing minority voters. White drug addicts probably don't vote, so keeping them from ODing doesn't have the same benefits and is too similar to welfare for Republican tastes. Curing drug addicts requires some sort of care, and that isn't in the wheelhouse of republics.

[TheFrenchRazor]

24. they are most definitely sending white people to jail for opiates, and which side are people on?,

do we want the "War on Drugs" prosecuted to fullest, profit-making expense, as long as the prosecution is unbiased, or do we want a less punitive, more rational approach to reducing drug abuse?

[Coventina]

4. The "crisis" is people are no longer getting the medication they need

to live a life approaching normal.

[ck4829]

6. Indeed. I thought about this a couple days and forgive me, it's not well formulated

But we've normalized opioid use and abuse, rather than normalizing life.

Pain from work? Take a pill.
Hurt on the job? Take a pill.
Stressed out? Take a pill.

Now I'm not really a hippie-ish person, and this isn't an anti-drug idea and I'm not promoting "natural cures", I'm not, but I think instead of "What drugs can we make to make daily activities more doable?", we should be asking "What can we do to make our daily activities more enjoyable and less painful?"

But of course; physical enjoyment, mental stimulation, spiritual journeys, etc. will cut into profits, executive bonuses, and reelection coffers... so we can't really have that.

[TheFrenchRazor]

17. constant, severe pain, for years on end is not "life;" on the contrary; if one does not get some

kind of pain relief they may really have no life at all, and many will commit suicide, or just become basket cases. that's what the war on drugs is causing.

[TheFrenchRazor]

18. agreed. nt

[IronLionZion]

8. So they cut funding for substance abuse treatment of addiction

and for general health insurance and other programs. When people can't get their necessary meds, they go to the street for illegal stuff they can get. And then their life is ruined because of this dotard.

Many conservative local governments have decided to cut funding for Naloxone(Narcan is just one brand) and other treatments that save lives of overdoses. And they start viewing overdose deaths as more of a solution than a problem. Cops and firefighters don't normally carry Epi-pens (or cheaper competitors) yet. But there are people making the argument that if they don't carry stuff to save innocent children with deadly allergies then F the druggies.

Whatever Trump decides to do will definitely make the problem 10 times worse.

[TheFrenchRazor]

16. word. nt

[lark]

9. drumpf math - 10 months 10 days!

I don't lie and I've accomplished everything I said I would when I said I would do it, sayeth the orange hateful assface.

[dembotoz]

10. And the silence over guns continues

[EX500rider]

19. The opioid death count is almost 5 times the firearm homicide rate.

Firearm homicides
Number of deaths: 11,008 for year, that's 30 per day Vs 140 per day opiates.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm

Also worse:

Unintentional fall deaths
Number of deaths: 31,959

Motor vehicle traffic deaths
Number of deaths: 33,736

Unintentional poisoning deaths
Number of deaths: 42,032

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/accidental-injury.htm

[dembotoz]

21. So just give firearms a pass? Don't think so

[TheFrenchRazor]

23. correct, and yet nobody is in a state of hysteria over those other things; how about deep breaths

and common sense when it comes to dealing with drug abuse of all kinds?

[lagomorph777]

11. Took my wife to the ER last night; they were just about to automatically give her two opioids.

The doc in charge was very kind and skilled, but the opioid habit seems to be ingrained in the medical community.

Needless to say, she strongly declined. She had pain, but not crippling pain, and NSAIDs were doing the job well enough.

[angstlessk]

13. I am the same way,

When I broke my collar, they offered me morphine, and I asked for something less opioid, like Tylenol, the next day, back to aspirin.

[TheFrenchRazor]

15. really? cuz where i'm at you can't pain relief for anything. it's just suffer until you die. and for

lot of people, NSAIDS either don't work, or are extremely harmful to stomach conditions. btw, i live in western SD.

[Xipe Totec]

12. Emergency! Everybody to get from street!

[TheFrenchRazor]

14. the anti-opioid hysteria doesn't do anything to help the people who really need it; all it does it

make it harder for chronic pain sufferers to get needed and appropriate pain relief. expanding the war on drugs will do NOTHING to help potential ODers; it will only increase the suffering of people who are already suffering enough.

[TexasBushwhacker]

20. I wonder how many people have chronic pain because they need surgery they can't afford

Degenerative discs run in my family. My grandmother, mother and younger brother have them. My brother also had spinal stenosis in his lumbar and cervical spine. My grandmother had one surgery, my mother two and my brother has had 3. My brother still isn't pain free, but he keeps it manageable with stretching, exercise and an inversion table. He takes NSAIDs occasionally. But, he has a good job with good insurance as well as short and long term disability insurance.

How many people haven't gotten surgery because they are uninsured or have unmanageable deductibles and co-pays, or they can't afford to take off work?

Knock on wood, I haven't had trouble - yet.

[TheFrenchRazor]

22. that is definitely a factor, and back surgery is by no means risk free, nor is guaranteed

to actually fix the patient's problem. i have had herniated discs several times; it's puts me in 24/7 knife-in-the-back pain for 6 to 9 months usually; i try every non-medical thing possible to reduce the pain but it does nothing; NSAIDS also do nothing whatsoever, plus i have have serious stomach troubles, but i can get NOTHING to reduce my pain here (in western SD), and i'm not talking about a bottle of Oxy every day or something; i'm talking about a tramadol pill or two per day which i can take and have taken before quite safely, without any risk of addictio, ramping up the dose etc. who is going to pay my bills when i can barely work due to this and many other constant pains?? the anti-opiate hysteria is nothing but a busy-body crusade that hurts far more people than it helps. how about some education, and maybe legalizing pot, anything??

[TexasBushwhacker]

25. I think they need to be smart about fighting the opiate problem

It's the Doctor Feelgoods who will write a prescription for anyone who pays for an office visit, the pharmacies that are pill mills, the wholesalers who support them and the drug manufacturers who pushed drugs like Oxycontin and Fentanyl as being less addictive that have caused this epidemic. And it's all for MONEY.

But, for the most part, the biggest problems with opiate adduction are in economically depressed areas. I hope that part of the "war on drugs" will include helping to bring jobs back to these areas. People have to have hope.

[Kablooie]

26. His solution is "just say no." to pain relief.