White House Press Release - Surgeon General Jerome Adams: "Leadership is Here to Fight Opioids"

"President Trump recognizes this immense challenge. With the new opioid initiative, he is providing the leadership necessary to make serious headway in this battle."

Leadership is here to fight opioids

By Surgeon General Jerome Adams

The Detroit News

April 3, 2018

Last week, President Trump announced a new initiative to fight America's epidemic of opioid abuse, addiction, and overdose. His announcement marks a significant moment in our national effort to reverse the deadly trends we have seen for the past several years, and a recognition that communities all across America are suffering from this crisis.

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More than 4,000 Michiganians have died from drug overdoses, predominantly due to opioids, between 2015 and 2016. The crisis has hit everywhere from the neighborhoods of Detroit to college towns and farming communities.

President Trump recognizes this immense challenge. With the new opioid initiative, he is providing the leadership necessary to make serious headway in this battle.

The initiative will address the driving forces behind the crisis, including the misuse of prescription opioids, the supply of illicit drugs, and insufficient access to evidence-based addiction treatment.

As the nation's top doctor, ensuring appropriate prescribing of drugs and providing treatment to those with addiction are both particularly important to me. As one example of our plans at the federal level, the government-funding bill signed last week by President Trump doubles the amount of funding that the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services provides through targeted grants to each state for opioid addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery support.

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The president's plan doesn't just support existing initiatives; it sets bold new goals as well. With an ambitious objective of cutting opioid prescriptions by one-third within three years, the new initiative will use the leverage of Medicare and Medicaid programs to aggressively encourage best practices in the prescription of opioids.

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Read the full op-ed here.