WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday directed the Department of Health and Human Services to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency, taking long-anticipated action to address a rapidly escalating epidemic of drug use.
But even as he vowed to alleviate the scourge of drug addiction and abuse that has swept the country — a priority that resonated strongly with the working-class voters who supported his presidential campaign — Mr. Trump fell short of fulfilling his promise in August to declare “a national emergency” on opioids, which would have prompted the rapid allocation of federal funding to address the issue.
His directive does not on its own release any additional funds to deal with a drug crisis that claimed more than 59,000 lives in 2016, and the president did not request any, although his aides said he would soon do so. And he made little mention of the need for the rapid and costly expansion of medical treatment that public health specialists, including some in his own administration, argue is crucial to addressing the epidemic.
"No part of our society - not young or old, rich or poor, urban or rural - has been spared this drug addiction outbreak and the terrible and terrible situation that has happened with opioids," Mr. Trump in a complicated and emotional explanation. ceremony in the East Room of the White House, attended by families of victims of opioid abuse, members of Congress and government officials. "This epidemic is a national health emergency."
To combat this epidemic, the president said that the government would produce "really tough, really big and really great ads" aimed at convincing Americans not to use opioids, who seem to return to the anticipated campaign "Just Say No "led by Nancy Reagan in the 1980s.
