Critics Say Trump Administration Made Serious Missteps in Addressing Opioid Crisis

The Trump Administration has made serious missteps in addressing the opioid crisis, several drug policy experts told NPR.

The administration has made some significant strides in dealing with the crisis. Trump signed legislation in 2018 that increased funding for drug treatment, and pushed China to slow its exports of fentanyl.

But the administration hampered federal efforts by considering defunding the Office of National Drug Control Policy — a decision that was later reversed, the article notes. Trump assigned a series of political appointees to handle the government’s response to the opioid crisis. “This made it difficult for people to understand, you know, who’s leading and coordinating the effort on opioids,” said Beau Kilmer, who heads the Rand Corporation’s Drug Policy Research Center.

In December, the Government Accountability Office issued a report criticizing the administration for not coming up with a national drug control strategy for 2017 or 2018.