(Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
On Tuesday, before the latest developments in the North Korea nuclear saga terrified people across the planet, Donald Trump was supposed to address another issue a bit closer to home: opioids. It's not exactly breaking news that heroin addiction and related deaths have spun out of control in recent years, and the president was scheduled to brief the public while meeting with his task force of experts on the crisis. There was an expectation that he might announce a national state of emergency over the issue—which could unlock more federal cash and get help to people who need it—after his task force recommended he do just that last week.
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Instead, before letting Health Secretary Tom Price (who has embraced controversial abstinence-based treatments) do some more substantial talking, Trump went full Nancy Reagan in his very own way:
The rest of Trump's speech was a bunch of boilerplate bromides about America winning and the need for more law enforcement.At least 59,000 Americans are believed to have died of drug overdose last year, many of them from opioids.The best way to prevent drug addiction and overdose is to prevent people from abusing drugs in the first place. If they don't start, they won't have a problem. If they do start, it's awfully tough to get off. So if we can keep them from going on and maybe by talking to youth and telling them: No good, really bad for you in every way. But if they don't start, it won't be a problem.