Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
A member of Trumps opioid commission calls its work a charade
A member of Trump’s opioid commission calls its work “a charade”
“Everyone is willing to tolerate the intolerable — and not do anything about it.”
By German Lopez@germanrlopezgerman.lopez@vox.com Jan 23, 2018, 12:40pm EST
A member of President Donald Trump’s opioid epidemic commission is furious with how the commission’s work has been treated by Trump and Republicans in Congress.
In an interview with CNN, former Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy said that the opioid commission’s work has been turned into “a charade” and “sham.” “Everyone is willing to tolerate the intolerable — and not do anything about it,” he said. “I’m as cynical as I’ve ever been about this stuff.”
Trump established the commission last year to study the opioid crisis and figure out how to fight it. Led by then–New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the commission released 56 recommendations in a final report and nine other proposals in a preliminary report — which largely focused on dealing with the opioid epidemic as a public health problem.
But the Trump administration has only implemented a couple of the commission’s proposals. It’s also made practically no use of its public health emergency declaration over the crisis (which the commission recommended), following up with no significant funding or policy proposals after the declaration.
“This and the administration’s other efforts to address the epidemic are tantamount to reshuffling chairs on the Titanic,” Kennedy told CNN. “The emergency declaration has accomplished little because there’s no funding behind it. You can’t expect to stem the tide of a public health crisis that is claiming over 64,000 lives per year without putting your money where your mouth is.”
Kennedy is far from alone in his sentiment. I recently spoke to experts and advocates about the opioid epidemic — and none were positive about Trump’s handling of the crisis so far.
more...
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/23/16923188/trump-opioid-commission-kennedy-sham-charade
