COLUMBUS – Ohio’s Republican senator and attorney general cheered President Donald Trump‘s announcement Thursday that he was declaring the nationwide drug epidemic a national emergency.
“There is no doubt that this heroin and prescription drug epidemic is a crisis affecting our entire country, and I applaud the president for his decision to declare it a national emergency,” said Sen. Rob Portman, who has sponsored legislation aimed at improving treatment for addicts and stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S.
An emergency declaration would allow the executive branch to direct funds towards expanding treatment facilities and supplying police officers with the anti-overdose remedy naloxone, according to experts. It would also allow the federal government to set aside some rules, including one that restricts where Medicaid recipients can get addiction treatment.
“I applaud President Trump for his plans to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency. Additional resources from the federal government will help hard-hit states like Ohio,” Ohio attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Mike DeWine said.
At least one Statehouse Democrat called on Gov. John Kasich to follow suit with an emergency declaration on the state level.
“I hope Gov. Kasich can set aside his personal feelings regarding President Trump to finally acknowledge this public health emergency and bring the full force of the state to bear on the growing epidemic,” said House Minority Whip Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood).
Ohio led the nation in 2016 with over 4,000 drug overdose deaths, many of them linked to the use of opiates, like heroin, morphine, fentanyl and carfentanil.
“[The drug crisis] is a national emergency,” Trump said from Bedminster, N.J., where he is vacationing. “We’re going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis.”
Secretary of State Jon Husted, one of those opposing DeWine in next year’s race for governor, praised Trump for showing “decisive leadership.”
“It is far beyond time for us to take bold steps to end this crisis and I’m grateful for new leadership that is not afraid to take those steps,” Husted said. “If Ohio were number-one in job creation or number one in education, we would not be number-one in opiate deaths.”
Meanwhile, a 28-year-old Columbus man could spend 20 years in prison for distributing fentanyl-laced heroin linked to at least one fatal overdose in Columbus in 2016.
Richard Edwards pled guilty in federal court Thursday as part of a plea agreement in which he admitted that his distribution of heroin and fentanyl led to a non-fatal overdose of a Columbus man in August of 2106, and a fatal overdose of a Columbus woman in December, according to a release from the office of U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman.
Edwards has been in custody since his arrest in March, Glassman’s office said.
Earlier this week, Columbus City Council President Zach announced the hiring of Amy O’Grady as the senior policy analyst tasked with coordinate the city’s role in carrying out the Franklin County Opiate Action Plan, announced in June. O’Grady previously served as the director of Criminal Justice Initiatives for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office where she focused on policy issues including drug addiction, human trafficking, crime victim services and mental health, Klein said.