White House OPIOID Commission Wants President Trump to Declare a NATIONAL EMERGENCY!.

August 6, 2017

A government opioid commission chaired by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has called for President Trump to declare a state of emergency in dealing with the opioid epidemic, which now kills more than 100 Americans daily.

Such a declaration “would empower your cabinet to take bold steps and would force Congress to focus on funding and empowering the executive branch even further to deal with this loss of life,” the commission wrote in a report released Monday. The commission also includes Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, and the Harvard Medical School psychobiology professor Bertha Madras.

Source: www.theatlantic.com...

After reading feedback from ATS members in another Opioid addiction thread, and glancing over the symptoms listed at drugabuse.com...-and-symptoms , I concluded that you can't easily identify those who are abusing. A lot of people are naturally drowsy, or euphoric, or confused, etc..

In your opinion, is the Opioid abuse/addiction epidemic bad enough to declare a National State of Emergency? Are there other ongoing "epidemics" that are worse, which have NOT received a national state of emergency declaration from the U.S. Government?

-CareWeMust

This is a red herring and also a way to make people in pain more miserable than they already are. I have a chronic pain condition, and I cannot help it if others party too much with their pills and end up dead. To me, it's Darwin's Law at work. I take mine as prescribed.

Maybe the CIA has a back supply of heroin from Afghanistan and wants to push people into the black market. All I know is, there's too much noise about this all of a sudden, as if it's a 'new' issue. It isn't.

Codex Alimentarius?

Honetly, at least in ohio it is very very bad here, my cousin is an emt, and it is his dream job, but he is getti g tired of 90% of his runs being g overdose runs to heroin houses. I personally am a recovering opioid addict, 4 years strong and still going! It has gotten 10 fold worse in the past like 8 years. We even have police departments getti g mad because people want them to carry narcam on them, even though its not their job to do overdose calls, but they have to take those calls because the emt is literally too busy with drug overdoses....i dunno, just my .2

a reply to: carewemust
Depends on the numbers which I haven't looked at.

Opiods are so powerful.

I recall years ago coming from the dentist and stopping at a drug store to get the prescription he gave me and without thinking took it.

Riding home I wondered all of a sudden why I felt so good. AHA, I thought all of a sudden--the prescription!

These drugs are POWERFUL.

a reply to: FissionSurplus

When I heard candidate Trump talk about it last year in speeches and debates, he always mentioned some Northeast states. Now, it's like every state has an epidemic. You think it's imagined, FissionSurplus....or not as big a deal as many politicians are making it out to be?

What are the numbers?

If New Hampshire is number one then we have a problem

It's very bad in Michigan.


Maybe even an epidemic.

Also a lot of talk lately about elephant tranq blended in, killing many.

Unfortunately , the idea of the current gubberment taking strong steps in enforcing drug laws scares me.

If government did anything right maybe it would be good.

Sadly , it will probbaly just lead to prison filling.

Say "'NO" to drugs.

Say "NO" to the drug war, also.


a reply to: carewemust

originally posted by: neomaximus10
Honetly, at least in ohio it is very very bad here, my cousin is an emt, and it is his dream job, but he is getti g tired of 90% of his runs being g overdose runs to heroin houses. I personally am a recovering opioid addict, 4 years strong and still going! It has gotten 10 fold worse in the past like 8 years. We even have police departments getti g mad because people want them to carry narcam on them, even though its not their job to do overdose calls, but they have to take those calls because the emt is literally too busy with drug overdoses....i dunno, just my .2

Do you think most of the addictions are to LEGAL or ILLEGAL Opioids, NeoMaximus10?

It is very bad, there is no doubt about it. However, declaring a state of emergency? What exactly will that entail? Right now I am at a loss how to handle the situation. Doctors and pain clinics are giving strong pain meds out like candy, and heroin it is still illegal, and the police forces are hyper vigilant on the issue.

I mean, we still have a war on drugs no? What, now they want a super duper war on drugs?

Nuke the drugs!!!!
a reply to: annoyedpharmacist

I was a heroin user in the old days and know the power of the drug. I kicked it myself.


But these legal drugs imo are more powerful and in the end may form a bigger problem.


I personally think we should dedicate more money to the problem for people who need counseling to kick the habit.

I dare say Chris Christie is good on this issue.

Most of these deaths are related to Heroin cut with Fentanyl.Definitly not prescribed.

a reply to: carewemust

I guess clandestine heroine running is doing its two fold job. Fund black projects and curb population growth.

Worked like a charm in harlem!

I will chime in and say in my opinion that there is absolutely no grounds for a national emergency, these are politicians wanting votes and I find it highly unlikely they personally care about an "addict" or "addiction". The main cause of spikes in overdose leading to death in heroin use is due to inconsistent doses and lately doses spiked with fentanyl.

This problem could be solved if every drug was de-criminalized. If every drug was available in your local drug store I truly believe people would get there acts together or under control to better there lives. It's just like alcohol and cigarettes alot if people go hard when they first start using but after a while "most" realize that is bad for your body and cut back or stop completely. Just look into the heroin clinics in other countries and how well they have been working out.

Alot of people are chasing that fix and doing what they have to to get it. But if it's at cvs and the same consistent dose everytime like with pharmaceuticals I believe overdoses would drop dramatically.

Declaring a state of emergency, and making it harder for people to get drugs will not stop it, a person is going to do what they have there mind made up on, and making it harder will definitely lead to people doing despite things to get what they need or switching to a different drug to help with the withdrawals or fill the gap.

Thank you for posting this tread, and bringing this subject to light

These are the same states that voted Trump and republicans to repeal Obamacare. Now they want the Medicaid expansion to take care of their unhappy and hopeless drug addicts. Capitalism on the way up, socialism on the way down.

a reply to: carewemust

It has been going on for many decades. I think the sudden flood of heroin on the streets is new in the last decade, but opioids have always been an issue. People will become addicted to things, it is part of the human condition. How did the British take down China? Give them a ton of opium and let them party themselves into a stupor or death.

Honestly, there are SO many things that can be done regarding the welfare of our citizens. Nobody addresses the 'why' of the issue, they fuss over the 'how' and point fingers and cry for a Nanny State to fix it because some people screw up and die.

People self-medicate. They always have, and they always will. Give them options to work on the why. I think this is a mole hill being blown into a mountain.....we all know the gov't doesn't give a damn about our well being. How many places in America have drinking water that's not full of lead, arsenic or other poisons? Why do we still have BPA in plastic food containers? Why are we sold meat that has tumors in it? Why does our milk have 'acceptable' amounts of pus in it?

There is an end game here that has nothing to do with our safety, I just can't quite figure out what it is.

originally posted by: Willtell
a reply to: carewemust
Depends on the numbers which I haven't looked at.

Opiods are so powerful.

I recall years ago coming from the dentist and stopping at a drug store to get the prescription he gave me and without thinking took it.

Riding home I wondered all of a sudden why I felt so good. AHA, I thought all of a sudden--the prescription!

These drugs are POWERFUL.

When my Dad was dying of cancer, I put this big pain patch on his back every 3 days. A couple of times, I let the sticky part of the patch touch my finger-tips when peeling/applying. You're right about the drug being very POWERFUL! I felt out of touch with reality for 10 minutes or so.

I think it was called a Fentanyl patch. Cancer all in his bones and no pain, right up to his last breath. I was SO THANKFUL for that!

a reply to: carewemust

I think most start out as legal, and they quot taking them, and miss that happy feeling, its a feeling that you have not a care in the world, all you can do is smile, and be friendly, stress seems to dissappear. They want that feeling again, so they start buying illegally.

Another mindset, now this was my mindset, i was prescribed pain meds for over 2 years due to a back injury. I was taking 4 oxycontin 80mg pills a day, thats a lot lol. Then my insurance decided not to cover it anymore, do you know what happened? I was in withdrawl, hellish, horrible withdrawl. I searched high and low for more pills on the street to make it stop. Back then it was cheaper on the street than it was for no insurance.

I was afraid of the withdrawl, it took me 2 years of ups and downs, to finally conquer my fear of withdrawl. So my mindset was that i wasnt really addicted, but i was so afraid of the withdrawl, that i continued to buy illegally and continue my addiction.

So i think a lot start illegally, get that happy high/buzz, and chase it. What i mean by chase it, is your body builds a tolerance, so you have to take more and more to get that happy high euphoria. It gets to a point where its too expensive to continue, so they switch to a harder drug (heroin) which is drastically cheaper, but apparently gives you the best feelingin the world (according to my cousin who has been clean foe over 1 year on that).


I hope i answered your question.

originally posted by: Willtell
I was a heroin user in the old days and know the power of the drug. I kicked it myself.


But these legal drugs imo are more powerful and in the end may form a bigger problem.


I personally think we should dedicate more money to the problem for people who need counseling to kick the habit.

I dare say Chris Christie is good on this issue.

a reply to: carewemust

There are loads of perpetual national epidemics out there that's true, insomnia, Herpes, chronic pain, bullying, very fat people, diabetes.......all things that in my guess nobody wants, while none seem to warrant a national emergency, though I presume there is a threshold of some kind.
Alcohol is another, though since it is marketed very cheekily, has come under fire with the result of making it more expensive, just like cigarettes
However governments are strangely ambivalent toward opioids and the alternatives which are likely just as bad, but are considered novel and probably costly too. £££££$$$$....chink chink.