President-elect Donald Trump plans to end the drug addiction crisis in America during his second term by approaching the issue from multiple avenues, specifically when it comes to targeting the import of drugs and drug precursors and providing those who are struggling with addiction additional resources to help with recovery.
The most recent data published by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) shows that 107,941 Americans died by drug overdose in 2022 which is double the number of individuals in 2015 that died from overdoses.
Drug overdoses have consistently increased each year for at least three decades until Trump entered office, as the number of overdoses from 2017 to 2018 saw a 5 percent decrease under Trump’s first administration.
In 2018, Trump signed the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act which was a set of approximately 70 different measures to combat the nation’s opioid crisis.
In addition, Trump authorized $1.8 billion in grants to help states fight the opioid crisis and created the Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand initiative.
In a video released by his presidential campaign in June 2023, Trump pledged that “he will not rest” until the drug addiction crisis in the nation is eradicated.
To further combat the drug crisis, Trump vowed to help those struggling with addiction and in need of services by expanding federal support for faith-based counseling, treatment, and recovery programs.
Trump also proposed forging new public-private partnerships for companies willing to provide job opportunities and skills training to former addicts and allowing families to take advantage of a family leave program to care for a family member fighting to overcome addiction.
The president-elect also looks to take his fight against the drug crisis to the source of the issue, which includes the production and importation of drugs and drug precursors by cartels and countries like China.
Most fentanyl, for example, is mass-produced in Mexico using chemicals from China before being pressed into pills or mixed with other counterfeit drugs.
Trump said he will “tell China that if they do not clamp down on the export of fentanyl’s chemical precursors, they will pay a steep price” and “insist on the full cooperation of neighboring governments to dismantle the trafficking and smuggling networks in our region.”
When it comes to drugs being smuggled into the U.S., Trump said he will “impose a full naval embargo on the drug cartels and deploy military assets to inflict maximum damage on cartel operations.”
With regard to drugs dealt on the streets, Trump said he will ask Congress to “ensure that drug dealers and human traffickers receive the death penalty” and “direct U.S. federal law enforcement to take down the gangs and organized street crime that distribute these deadly narcotics on a local level.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
