Recently, the Trump administration declared opioid addiction a public health emergency. This move was supposed to provide more access to treatment for opioid addiction and remove various restrictions that prohibit drug addiction specialists from doing their job. While this state of emergency sounds like a step in the right direction, it seems as if the Trump White House is forgetting about unlocking the funding needed to address this issue nationwide. Many in the drug addiction treatment industry, like Odyssey Training Center, view this latest attempt at addressing the opioid crisis in America as nothing more than a dog and pony show.
All Talk and No Action…
Months ago, the White House, namely President Trump himself, said they were going to declare a national emergency on the opioid crisis, which was supposed to free up federal dollars kept in the Disaster Relief Fund. Generally, the money in this fund is used to help states deal with things like cleanup after a natural disaster. Never in the history of this country have these funds been used to address a national health crisis like opioid addiction. With the hurricane damage that has been done to states like Texas and Florida, the resources in the Disaster Relief Fund are nearly depleted.
According to NPR, the White House declared a national public health emergency on the opioid crisis due to the fact that these types of emergencies don’t get access to the money in the Disaster Relief Fund. The Public Health Emergency Fund that this emergency will draw money from only contains about $57,000, which will not even scratch the surface when it comes to treating opioid addicts around the country.
A Serious Problem Requires Extreme Measures
Since 2015, more than 52,000 people have died as a result of opioid addiction. Each year, the number of overdose deaths keeps climbing, which is why now is the time to act. The crisis surrounding opioid overdoses has gotten so bad that it is single handedly driving down the life expectancy rates in this country. The Trump administration did offer a few glimmers of hope in their plan to address this crisis.
The White House said they are waving regulations that prohibit states from offering care to facilities that have less than 16 beds for drug addicted citizens. New regulations set forth by this administration also requires federally employed prescribers to take specialized training. This training is targeted at reducing the amount of painkillers that patients are prescribed. The federal government is also going to launch a large advertising campaign aimed at discouraging people from taking these drugs in the first place.
While many experts maintain that it will cost billions of dollars to adequately address this crisis, these new regulations are a step in the right direction. The team at Odyssey Training Center is passionate about providing students with the tools they need to treat opioid addiction.