On October 26, President Trump declared a public health emergency for one of the biggest problems our country faces, the opioid crisis. I strongly believe that the federal government has not done enough to stop this crisis in the past, however declaring a “public health emergency” does not accomplish this goal. In the words of Democratic Senator Edward J. Markey, Trumps plan “offered the country a Band-Aid when we need a tourniquet.” The opioid crisis has many layers to it, and simply declaring it a public health crisis will not fix the true issues involved in the crisis.
First off, in declaring it a public health crisis, Trump has effectively postponed any actual effort to fight this epidemic. He made his declaration under the Public Health Service Act, which does not guarantee funding for this cause. I believe that he should have declared it a National Emergency under the Stafford Act, which would have allowed for FEMA funds to be used immediately. It is important to note that these funds would have been stretched thin as it is considering that three hurricanes all recently hit the U.S., however immediate action must be taken when 64,000 Americans died in 2016 due to overdoses.
The president is not the only one inhibiting progress in the fight against opioids, a few members of congress have as well. In April of 2016 the Marino bill was passed, essentially giving major pharmaceutical distributors immunity from DEA penalty for knowingly filing suspicious orders of opioids. The bill was introduced by Representative Tom Marino from Williamsport Pennsylvania, one of the communities hit hardest by the opioid crisis, and was heavily supported by major drug companies, pharmacies, and manufacturer associations. These companies had been targeted in previous years by DEA investigators due to high numbers of unreported suspicious pill shipments, and had ended up paying hundreds of millions of dollars in fines because of this. Needless to say, these pharmaceutical companies did not take kindly to these penalties, and shelled out millions more dollars to pass this legislation.
$102 million was spent by the industry in lobbying expenses on the Marino bill, yet the money only tells part of the story. Companies began hiring former DEA prosecutors in order to protect themselves from further fines, the most prominent being Linden Barber. Barber had taken on the big drug companies for years and knew the ins and outs of every case, so when he started lobbying on behalf of the industry, he knew exactly how to defend them as well. He is the one who wrote the Marino bill, and he was able to use his previous DEA experience to convince the Energy and Commerce Committee of the legislation’s pros.
Currently, at the height of the opioid crisis, every agency that should have the authority to go after those distributing the drugs has their hands tied. The DEA no longer will be able to go after the drug companies that pump pills into our streets, and the president has halted all immediate forms of action that could be taken to help people in need. To make it worse, Trump submitted Marino’s name to congress so that he could be approved as the next drug czar. Marino recently withdrew himself from consideration, yet if the president’s first pick for the position was the man who championed a bill to protect the drug companies, I am scared who he will pick next for the position. What we need is for serious changes to be made by congress in order to save the lives of those affected by opioid addiction. The first of these changes would be to amend the Marino bill as soon as possible. In its current state, the bill puts hundreds of thousands of Americans in danger. The second change that needs to happen is for new legislation to be passed. Senator Markey co-introduced a piece of legislation that would give $4.5 billion in funding for the crisis to the states.
The opioid crisis has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in our country, and more are being lost everyday. The president has said that he will address the issue, yet his actions have not been swift enough. Congress must act quickly so that the government bodies centered around these issues will have the power to solve them.
21st Century Citizenship 