President Trump on Thursday officially directed his administration to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency.
“Building upon the recommendations in the interim report from the president’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, President Donald J. Trump has instructed his administration to use all appropriate emergency and other authorities to respond to the crisis caused by the opioid epidemic,” Trump said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., that his administration was drawing up the paperwork to make the national emergency declaration.
“The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I’m saying officially right now it is an emergency,” he said. “It’s a national emergency. We’re going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis … We’re going to draw it up and we’re going to make it a national emergency. It is a serious problem the likes of which we have never had.”
Trump’s comments come two days after Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price told reporters that the president would not be making such a declaration at this time.
Under the National Emergencies Act, the president must specify what the emergency provisions are and must notify Congress of his intentions.
Declaring the opioid epidemic a national emergency could lead to greater access to grant funding and would waive rules to expand access to opioid treatments, experts say.
Late last month, a commission created by Trump aimed at combating opioid abuse recommended the president declare a federal “state of emergency” on the epidemic.
The commission, led by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, called for dramatic action to address an opioid overdose crisis that killed more than 33,000 Americans in 2015, more than in any previous year.
