opiCOLUMBUS – “A good first step” is how many lawmakers and health advocates are characterizing President Donald Trump‘s declaration of a declaration of a public health emergency which could clear the way for resources for states to battle the opioid addiction crisis.
Drug overdoses took more than 4,000 lives in Ohio in 2016, 33 percent more than the year before, placing the state in the middle of the crisis.
There is no doubt that this heroin and prescription drug epidemic is a national crisis, and it’s getting worse, not better. The president’s decision to declare this epidemic a public health emergency is a positive step forward, and I’m hopeful it will lead to a better coordinated federal response to this crisis. –Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman
RELATED: Saturday is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day
The opioid emergency declaration is an important step—but it is long overdue & will mean nothing if it isn’t followed w/ immediate actions.
— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) October 26, 2017
Thursday’s announcement could clear the way for resources to states, but there is currently no funding to support a public-health emergency in the federal budget and Congress must take action to make that money available. If it had been declared a public emergency, as Trump hinted he would do in August, Federal Emergency Management funds would be immediately available.
In Ohio, we lose at least 14 people every day to opioid overdoses. It is going to take all of us working together including parents, law enforcement, schools, churches, community groups, and government to turn this problem around, and the action items the President announced today will help on many fronts, including prevention, education, treatment and law enforcement. –Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine
A massive advertising campaign is part of the administration’s plan but a study funded by the National Institutes of Health found a nearly $1 billion national campaign designed to discourage use of illegal drugs among young people had no favorable effects on their behavior, according to a report by the Associated Press.