Donald Trump was serving his first time period as president when fentanyl started to flood American communities. What do specialists say he can he do now to scale back overdose deaths?
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
President-elect Donald Trump is promising to crack down on fentanyl smugglers and drug sellers. Critics say lots of his powerful coverage concepts are unrealistic and will drain assist from dependancy packages which can be saving lives. NPR’s Brian Mann experiences.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: When Donald Trump talked about avenue fentanyl and overdose deaths through the marketing campaign, he framed it not as a public well being disaster, however as a border downside, a criminal offense downside.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: Sir, I heard you need the loss of life penalty for drug sellers. Why? Nicely, you understand, I might like to finish the drug epidemic, if that is OK.
MANN: Fentanyl and different avenue medicine kill roughly 100,000 individuals within the U.S. yearly. After the election, the person Trump named to function border czar, Tom Homan, promised U.S. navy motion towards Mexican drug cartels throughout an look on Fox Information.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TOM HOMAN: President Trump is dedicated to calling them a terrorist group and utilizing the complete would possibly of the US particular operations to take them out.
MANN: Fentanyl truly unfold within the U.S. throughout Trump’s first time period. And most of the people smuggling the lethal opioid into the U.S. are Americans, not Mexicans or migrants. However many dependancy specialists say Trump’s powerful speak appealed to voters. Tom Wolf is an activist in California who’s in restoration from opioid dependancy. He says Individuals need this disaster solved quick.
TOM WOLF: Persons are uninterested in the theft. They’re uninterested in the open drug use. And so they need some accountability to be injected again into the method.
MANN: Jonathan Caulkins, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon College, agrees Individuals are exhausted by the general public dysfunction and loss of life that include fentanyl. The query now’s whether or not Trump will comply with via on concepts that will tilt the nation’s response sharply from therapy and restoration towards extra police – and presumably navy – motion. Caulkins referred to as a few of these concepts misguided.
JONATHAN CAULKINS: Even invoking the concept of navy motion in Mexico towards drafters is, like, the worst thought anyone has ever, ever had.
MANN: Caulkins believes a U.S. navy strike would do little to sluggish fentanyl smuggling or save American lives however may shatter diplomatic relations and destabilize Mexico. Brandon del Pozo, a former police chief who research drug coverage at Brown College, additionally blasted Trump for his loss of life penalty plan.
BRANDON DEL POZO: There are hundreds, if not a whole bunch of hundreds, of Individuals who our neighbors are doing one thing that is unlawful, proper? They’re undoubtedly dealing medicine, however they is likely to be doing it as a result of they’re hooked on medicine. The concept we’d execute them – that shocks the conscience.
MANN: Even some activists like Tom Wolf, who need more durable drug insurance policies, fear Trump may go too far, deemphasizing drug therapy and restoration whereas reigniting a full-scale drug conflict.
WOLF: I wish to see the pendulum cease within the center. Everyone knows that the conflict on medicine within the ’80s was over-draconian. Because of this, it failed.
MANN: Trump takes over at a second when there are indicators the general public well being strategy could also be working. Drug deaths dropped sharply during the last 12 months, a development that saved about 16,000 lives in keeping with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Many researchers credit score the Biden administration for pushing higher medical insurance, therapy and drugs for individuals with dependancy. Keith Humphreys, a drug coverage professional at Stanford College says it could be a mistake for Trump to chop packages that seem like serving to.
KEITH HUMPHREYS: My worry can be that he continues chopping away on the Reasonably priced Care Act and Medicaid, that are the monetary spine of the American dependancy therapy system.
MANN: Kassandra Frederique, who heads an advocacy group referred to as the Drug Coverage Alliance, predicts Trump will shift the nation’s fentanyl response away from public well being, hoping for a fast repair.
KASSANDRA FREDERIQUE: Somebody is saying to you that we are going to simply flip off the tap, lower the availability chain. We’re simply going to arrest all of the individuals. Then we can’t must take care of this anymore. And whereas it may be enticing to some individuals, it is a mirage.
MANN: Each professional interviewed by NPR agreed Trump’s promise of a swift finish to the fentanyl disaster is unrealistic. Regardless of latest progress, most stated the dependancy and overdose epidemic will take years, and even many years, to unravel.
Brian Mann, NPR Information.
Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content is probably not in its ultimate kind and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability might range. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.
