Opioid Epidemic Worsens, Trump Vows More Prevention and Drug Enforcement

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Opioid Epidemic Worsens, Trump Vows More Prevention and Drug Enforcement
President Donald Trump speaks at a meeting with administration officials on the opioid addiction crisis at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Aug. 8, 2017. During President Trump's presidency, employment is up, a major factor preventing drug abuse. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
Petr Svab
8/9/2017
Updated:
10/5/2018

With an opioid epidemic in America that is only getting worse, President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to take steps to counter it.

Trump spoke about taking more preventative steps and providing more drug law enforcement on the issue during a briefing on the epidemic in Bedminster, N.J., on Aug. 8.

Some 33,000 overdoses from opioids were recorded in 2015, including heroin overdoses as well as those related to prescription painkillers and synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, which around 50 times more potent than heroin. Its chemical cousin, carfentanil, is considered a biological weapon, and has also been blamed for a spate of overdoses in the United States.

While more recent statistics have not yet been released, the situation has only worsened since 2015, according to Secretary of Health and Human Services Department, Tom Price.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price speaks to the press after President Donald Trump held a meeting with administration officials in Bridgewater, New Jersey, on Aug. 8, 2017, on the opioid addiction crisis in the US. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price speaks to the press after President Donald Trump held a meeting with administration officials in Bridgewater, New Jersey, on Aug. 8, 2017, on the opioid addiction crisis in the US. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

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(Source: National Center for Health Statistics, CDC Wonder)
(Source: National Center for Health Statistics, CDC Wonder)