Does the GOP own the Opioid crisis?

Why Opioid Crisis Is GOP’s Crisis, Too

President Trump’s declaration that the opioid crisis is a national public health emergency is a good start. The trouble is, his own party’s ideology might be one of the biggest barriers to winning the battle, suggests Eric Levitz in New York Magazine.

“The primary reason for the opioid epidemic’s brutal acceleration may be this: In the United States, it’s much easier for addicts to find heroin than to find help. A 2016 report from the surgeon general’s office found that just 10 percent of Americans with a drug disorder secured specialty treatment. This result is largely explained by the fact that wide swaths of the country -- including many counties where opioid abuse is prevalent -- lack affordable treatment options,” Levitz writes.

“To stem the tide of drug overdoses in the United States, the president will need to increase federal health-care spending, impose more stringent regulations on the pharmaceutical industry, and embrace a harm-reduction approach to drug abuse that insulates addicts from the worst consequences of their nonviolent crimes. In other words: He will have to break with governing preferences of the GOP donor class.”
Ninety-one Americans die from an opioid overdose every day. But there is a surprising tool emerging that may help fight the battle. Fareed discusses the issue in his Last Look.

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