The opioid crisis had a face during Trump’s campaign. His name was the Kraig Moss, AKA Trump Troubadour. His son died of a drug overdose. The grieving father found some promising relief in Donald Trump. The Trump Troubadour stopped making mortgage payments, he sold all his business equipment followed Trump across the country, like a roadie. He wore his cowboy hat and strummed his guitar. He sang about his son, and how Donald Trump was our new savior.
Trump made this promise to Moss personally at a rally in Iowa in January 2016. Speaking through a microphone to the crowd, he addressed Moss directly: “The biggest thing we can do in honor of your son … we have to be able to stop it.” WashingtonPost
Trump got elected. For the first time in a really long time, Moss felt victorious.
A few weeks after the election though, Trump released his version of the Affordable Care Act. The proposal would slash addiction treatment. Moss was devastated.
“This bill is just the absolute opposite,” Moss told The Washington Post. “I felt betrayed. I felt let down.”
A few weeks ago Trump finally called the opioid crisis a “national emergency”. That was a big thing. It was the first time the administration had even mentioned what many Americans feel to be our most life threatening epidemic. The commissions says that 142 people die of overdoses a day.
But then that was it.
Since then, Trump hasn’t even make a peep about the opioid crisis.
“I’m no historian who’s studied all of these instances, but typically, the paperwork and the specifics are drawn up before public announcements are made,” said Dr. Jay Butler, president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Offiials.CNN
Of course, Trump tried to blame Obama for the opioid epidemic. Why not? He tries to blame him on everything else.
“Federal drug prosecutions have gone down in recent years. We’re going to be bringing them up and bringing them up rapidly. At the end of 2016, there were 23 percent fewer than in 2011. So they looked at this scourge and they let it go by, and we’re not letting it go by.”
I’m sure Kraig Moss was relieved to hear Trump finally admit there was a drug crisis. But that really means nothing. The White House needs to declare a formal state of emergency for the funding to begin. That was where they drew the line. Just like everything else in the Trump White House, it is all presentation. The White House refused to say when they would declare.
“We are declaring one but we are considering which option to use to declare one,” the spokesman said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Tom Price, is in no rush to declare a state of emergency. Read my article about this guy. He is one apple that fell way off the tree!
Trump and his administration don’t care about drug addicts and criminals. They are only dead weight. How do you think Trump and Price and all their wealthy donors feel about paying taxes for drug addiction programs? Furthermore, please read this article about Mike Pence, our beloved vice president. He slashed funding for Planned Parenthood in his state. As a result people couldn’t get clean needles and contraceptives. So many people died as a result, that they had to declare a state of emergency in his state.
These grim reapers are now in charge. Heaven help us.
