CONGRESS/DRUGS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump will tout his response to the opioid crisis when he signs a sweeping bipartisan bill this week, but other drug-related deaths are on the rise and little is being done to address the broader scourge of addiction. Fatalities from misuse of methamphetamine, cocaine and benzodiazapines have surged while Washington’s latest efforts to fight drug addiction funnel new money and resources almost exclusively to localities ravaged by the opioid crisis or pay for treatments and overdose-reversal drugs that don’t work for stimulants. Trump on Wednesday [10-24-18] will sign a 660-page bill Congress passed to combat the opioid crisis during a White House event aimed at showcasing his administration’s work on the issue. And while those efforts will direct around $4 billion to fight the epidemic, public health experts warn they miss an opportunity to address the broader issue of addiction, including the 80,000 Americans who die every year from alcoholism.”
–Brianna Ehley, “Meth and cocaine complicate Trump’s war on drugs,” Politico, Octoer 23, 2018 3:18 pm