President Trump and the opioid crisis

• President Trump launched an Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand, introducing new measures to confront the driving forces behind this crisis.
• The President signed the landmark SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, the largest and most comprehensive legislative package addressing a single drug crisis in history.
• The President helped secure a record $6 billion in funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
• The Administration provided more than $2 billion in grants in 2018 to help States, territories, tribes, and local communities prevent and treat opioid abuse.
• The Administration pursued scientific solutions to prevent and treat addiction through the Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative.
• The President launched a national public awareness campaign about the dangers of opioid addiction and youth opioid usage.
• Last year, President Trump created a Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, which recommends ways to tackle the opioid crisis.
• The Administration declared the opioid crisis a nationwide Public Health Emergency in 2017.
• President Trump is working to cut off the flow of deadly opioids into our country and to disrupt the networks that distribute them to our communities.
• The Administration secured first-ever indictments against Chinese nationals for fentanyl trafficking.
• The Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a surge to target fentanyl and heroin dealers in the districts with the most severe overdose death rates.
• The DOJ formed a Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement team and shut down the biggest Darknet distributor of drugs.
• Last year, the DOJ announced the largest healthcare fraud takedown in history, arresting more than 120 defendants with opioid-related crimes.
• The President launched a Safer Prescribing Plan that seeks to cut nationwide opioid prescription fills by one-third within three years.
• The Administration has led four National Prescription Drug Take-Back Days, collecting a record-breaking 1,837 tons of expired and unneeded prescription drugs.

https://710wor.iheart.com/featured/mark-simone/content/2019-03-09-the-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-so-far/

Why would we change the Ohio Constitution to improve drug sentencing and treatment?

The 2018 Ohio Neighborhood Safety, Drug Treatment, and Rehabilitation Amendment is a ballot initiative aiming to change Ohio’s constitution to achieve four goals:

(1) change drug possession felonies to misdemeanors,

(2) prohibit prison sentences for technical probation violations,

(3) expand the ability to earn up to 25% off a prison sentence through rehabilitative programming, and

(4) redirect funds saved from reduced incarceration to drug treatment and victims’ services.

Although it is easier to amend a state constitution than the federal, this definitely sounds like something that should be done by legislation and the court system, not by changing the constitution, especially the part that goes around prison sentencing, and part 3 about reducing the sentence with rehab programing. What an invitation for a cottage industry of poorly thought out programs, millions in grant money to be frittered away.

I attended the programming this summer at Lakeside (and read Quinones’ book, Dreamland: True Tale of America’s Opioid Epidemic) on the drug problems in Ohio. In the 70s and 80s we were active in a prison reform group and a teen rehabilitation program. I can see nothing in this proposed amendment that actually speaks to the problem of improper sentencing, nor which will reduce or redirect funding or reduce deaths.

https://ballotpedia.org/Amending_state_constitutions

http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/constitution-amend-with-care.aspx

https://www.lsc.ohio.gov/documents/reference/current/guidebook/chapter1.pdf

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2018/08/23/proposed-ohio-constitutional-amendment-backed-by-facebook-founders-would-reform-sentencing-for-nonviolent-low-level-drug-offenders

Addiction to pain killers

Overdoses from prescription pain killers result in 40+ deaths a day and 1.2 million emergency room visits a year, a 98.4% increase since 2004. Sales of opiods in 2010 were 4X more than 1999. Unlike users of illegal drugs, these addicted people usually aren't injecting, they are employed, and they have family support. But as with users of illegal drugs, short term treatment isn't very successful. JAMA, Jan. 4, 2012.

Just a wild guess here--I'm not a researcher or doctor--but it would seem that addiction can happen without poverty and societal breakdown (numbers are higher than for cocaine and heroin). It happens even with excellent health insurance. So when creating new government programs to help the addicted- low income, I hope someone looks at this report. Addiction to prescribed drugs according to this report also varies by state--so look for older people with a lot of surgical procedures for knees, hips, back, cancer, etc., to account for an increase as the population ages. States like Florida and New Mexico have a greater problem with this than Illinois and Nebraska. Also, what year was it the drug plan for Medicare kicked in?