$180 billion, and the 2018 budget proposed by the Trump White House called for a 17 percent cut to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a 31 percent to the Food and Drug Administration and, despite the rhetoric of law and order, cuts to the Drug Enforcement Agency.
With the national emergency declared, it’s still possible that programs that work to alleviate cases of addiction will have less funding and fewer employees.
In his announcement to reporters, Trump stated that education is the way to prevent addictions.
“If they don’t start, then they won’t have a problem,” he said. “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.’”
It’s unclear, however, how this will be accomplished.
Author: Ryan Beitler
An editor and contributor to Addiction Now, Ryan Beitler is a journalist, fiction writer, musician, and travel writer. He has written for Paste Magazine, OC Weekly, numerous addiction recovery publications, and his travel blog Our Little Blue Rock. He lives in Southern California. Contact Ryan at ryanrbeitler@gmail.com or ryanb@addictionnow.com.
