In a much-anticipated report last week, a panel appointed by President Donald Trump recommended he declare opioid addiction a national emergency. But, for now, it seems he won’t.
“The resources that we need or the focus that we need to bring to bear to the opioid crisis at this point can be addressed without the declaration of an emergency, although all things are on the table for the president,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price said during a press conference on Tuesday.
The number of Americans who have died of opioid overdoses has grown every year since 2002; in 2015, opioid overdoses killed 33,000 people.
