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Judy Woodruff:
From President Trump today, a summons to battle opioid addiction. He called for new action, but not necessarily for new money.
William Brangham begins our coverage.
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President Donald Trump:
As you all know from personal experience, families,
communities and citizens across our country are currently dealing with
the worst drug crisis in American history and even, if you really think
about it, world history.
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William Brangham:
President Trump, flanked by survivors, first-responders
and family members impacted by opioids, declared a public health
emergency.
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President Donald Trump:
This epidemic is national health emergency. Unlike many
of us, we have seen and we have seen in our lifetimes, nobody has seen
anybody like what is going on now. As Americans, we cannot allow this to
continue. It is time to liberate our communities from the scourge of
drug addiction. Never been this way. We can be the generation that ends
the opioid epidemic. We can do it.
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William Brangham:
The president spoke at length of the severity of this
crisis, which claimed the lives of at least 64,000 people last year, has
stretched the ability of first-responders and filled treatment centers
to capacity nationwide.
But the president also told a more personal story, about his own brother Fred, who died after his struggle with alcoholism.
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President Donald Trump:
But he really helped me. I had somebody that guided me.
And he had a very, very, very tough life because of alcohol, believe me,
very, very tough, tough life. He was a strong guy. But it was a tough,
tough thing that he was going through, but I learned because of Fred. I
learned.
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William Brangham:
The administration today announced several initiatives.
The prescription drug Opana will be removed from the market because it’s
considered too dangerous.
A key regulation will be changed to
expand access to treatment facilities. They will allow grants from the
Labor Department and money for HIV/AIDS care to be used in this fight.
And officials will be able to tap the Public Health Emergency Fund, even
though that fund has less than $60,000 in it.
No new money has
been allotted by today’s action. Many say the president’s declaration of
a public health emergency is important, but they note that it falls
short of a more sweeping state of national emergency, which would give
the government far more flexibility to respond to the epidemic.
The
president’s own commission on this crisis, chaired by New Jersey
Governor Chris Christie, had urged that more comprehensive declaration
earlier this year. Christie today was still very supportive of the
president’s action.
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Gov. Chris Christie, R-n.j.:
What the president did today was historic and it is an extraordinary beginning set of steps to dealing with this problem.
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William Brangham:
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said that without more robust funding, today’s action is simply not enough.
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Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-calif., House Minority Leader:
Declaring an emergency means he can have access to some
funds, but the funds in that account are like $57,000, $58,000, so show
me the money.
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William Brangham:
Today’s declaration lasts for just 90 days, but can be renewed indefinitely by the president.
For the PBS NewsHour, I’m William Brangham.
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Judy Woodruff:
The state of Rhode Island has been especially hard hit
by this epidemic and has one of the highest overdose fatality rates in
the country.
Gina Raimondo is the governor and a Democrat. And she joins me now from Providence.
Governor, welcome to the program. Thank you.
What does it mean to you that the president has declared this a public health emergency?
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Gov. Gina Raimondo, D-r.i.:
Well, good afternoon, Judy. Good to talk to you.
This
is a public health emergency. It’s a public health emergency here in
Rhode Island. Since I have been governor, I have done two executive
orders on the matter. And it is certainly probably the biggest public
health crisis we face in America.
So, we can’t do enough. People
are dying every day because of overdose deaths. I’m sick and tired of
going to funerals in my state of my friends’ kids, family members of
people who I know. Every day almost, I hear a story of this. And we have
to do more.
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Judy Woodruff:
What is your understanding of what can happen now as a
result of this being declared a public health emergency that couldn’t be
done before?
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Gov. Gina Raimondo:
You know, this has just come out, so it’s little too soon to say.
What
I will say, though, is to me it seems like too little too late. This
has been an emergency for some time. What we really need is resources,
Judy. We know what works. We have to do prevention and we have to get
folks into treatment.
And so what the president should be doing if
he really did care about these lives is sending finances and funding to
us on a local level so that we can get folks into treatment. We know
what works. Like, here in Rhode Island, for example, we have been using
our Medicaid expansion dollars to provide medical assisted treatment to
folks in prison, so they don’t overdose and die when they come out.
It
works. It’s saving lives. But if the president were serious about
treating this like a crisis that it is, he would have acted sooner, and
at this point he would be providing some budget behind this priority,
because that’s what we need.
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Judy Woodruff:
Well, at the White House, officials are telling
reporters that this is going to put them in a position to urge the
Congress to put more fun into this so-called Public Health Emergency
Fund, which they would point out has not been funded by the Congress for
years.
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Gov. Gina Raimondo:
And that would be a good step. That would be a good step, although, again, I would say we’re past baby steps on this.
I
mean, in a small state of Rhode Island, hundreds of people die every
year because of overdose. And these are people in every zip code, of
every socioeconomic status in every neighborhood. Young people, kids in
their 20s, are dying, and it could be prevented.
So I would say we
need more money for prevention, more money for mental health. We don’t
have nearly enough mental health facilities. And more money for
medical-assisted treatment. And I don’t think we can wait. It’s time for
action. People deserve action.
In the past two weeks, I have gone
to three funerals related to this. Enough is enough. We’re doing
everything we can, and the president needs to do everything he knows how
to do to save lives.
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Judy Woodruff:
Well, the president, I think, went out of his way today
to say that this is something that matters deeply to him personally. He
spoke about his own brother who died of — having been diagnosed with
alcoholism.
The president sounded like he’s very determined to keep the focus on this.
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Gov. Gina Raimondo:
Well, talk is one thing, but let’s see action.
You
know, as I said, people are still unable to get access to mental health
services, either because they can’t afford it, they don’t have
insurance, or there’s not enough capacity in the system.
He
mentioned today, for example, going after cheap fentanyl coming in from
China. Take action on that. Fentanyl is killing our kids every day. It’s
coming in from China and Mexico. So, let’s see some real enforcement.
And,
again, just — I’m just imploring him, put politics aside, imploring the
Congress, put politics aside, do the right thing, give the states not
just flexibility. Give us the finances that this country has, so we can
save lives.
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Judy Woodruff:
And time matters here?
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Gov. Gina Raimondo:
Time absolutely matters. Every day we wait, people lose their lives. That is about the size of it. So let’s get to work.
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Judy Woodruff:
Governor Gina Raimondo of the state of Rhode Island, thank you very much.
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Gov. Gina Raimondo:
Thank you.
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