Rub Some Dirt on It

AP on the administration’s much-anticipated opiate announcement: “President Donald Trump on Thursday declared the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency — a step that won’t bring new dollars to fight a scourge that kills nearly 100 Americans a day but will expand access to medical services in rural areas, among other changes.” (Here’s the big question: Will the sufferers of this burden be given real help that addresses the actual problems in the system, or will they get a new-fangled version of the race-baiting war on drugs that has been a massive failure and is completely unrelated to what’s happening on the streets of America.)

+ From Trump: “If we can teach young people and people generally, not to start, it’s really easy not to take them.” (We’ve gone from Just Say No to Just Say NO!) And, “We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic.” (That would be good, since we’re the generation that started it.)

+ Stat: What’s in the White House’s opioid emergency declaration — and what’s not.

+ Vox: It’s a limited move, but it will help jump-start some action in the opioid crisis.

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