Tag: Trump administration

Trump To Jeff Sessions: Sue Drug Companies For Opioid Crisis Role

The Attorney General said he would take action on Trump’s requests.

President Donald Trump has instructed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to file a federal lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies in Mexico and China, claiming that they have played a role in the US opioid epidemic.

Last week, according to the New York Post, the president threw blame at China and Mexico for their roles in the opioid epidemic, claiming the countries had manufactured some of the illegal opioids coming into the United States.

“In China, you have some pretty big companies sending that garbage and killing our people. It’s almost like a form of warfare. I’d like you to do what you can legally,” Trump said to Sessions.

Fox News reports that Trump’s remarks came during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Aug. 16. Fox notes it was somewhat unusual that Trump asked for a new “major” lawsuit to be filed, rather than asking Sessions to join existing lawsuits filed by various US states.

“I’d also like to ask you to bring a major lawsuit against the drug companies on opioids,” Trump stated at the meeting, according to Fox. “Some states have done it, but I’d like a lawsuit to be brought against these companies that are really sending opioids at a level that — it really shouldn’t be happening. … People go into a hospital with a broken arm, they come out, they’re a drug addict.”

Sessions said he would take action on Trump’s requests.

“We absolutely will,” Sessions said at the meeting. “We are returning indictments now against distributors from China; we’ve identified certain companies that are moving drugs from China, fentanyl in particular. We have confronted China about it … Most of it is going to Mexico and then crossing the border, unlawfully, from Mexico.”

As of now, more than 25 US states have filed more than 1,000 lawsuits against opioid distributors and manufacturers.

Last week, New York filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, stating the manufacturer of the painkiller OxyContin has mislead medical professionals and patients about the dangers of the medication. Massachusetts also filed a lawsuit against the company in June, accusing the company of a “web of illegal deceit.”

According to recent estimates, overall overdose deaths in the US in 2017 were about 72,000 — an increase of 6,000 from 2016’s estimates.

However, preliminary 2018 data implies that the “numbers may be trending downward in the wake of the Trump administration’s efforts to curb the epidemic.”

View the original article at thefix.com

24 August 2018
No More Psychotropic Drugs For Migrant Kids Without Consent, US Judge Rules

Several migrant children have given disturbing testimony about being forced to take psychotropic drugs at a facility in Texas.

The Trump administration must end the practice of unreservedly administering psychotropic medication to migrant children in US custody.

On Monday (July 30), US District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles ordered the government to obtain consent or a court order before administering medication such as antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, except in dire emergencies.

Several migrant children have given disturbing testimony of their treatment at Shiloh Residential Treatment Center in Manvel, Texas, one of many facilities contracted by the US Office of Refugee Resettlement to house immigrant children since 2013, the Washington Post reported.

One 12-year-old boy named Lucas R. from Guatemala, who was detained in February, was transferred to Shiloh after refusing to take Zoloft, a popular antidepressant, because it was causing him stomach pain, according to court filings.

Medical staff at the facility diagnosed the boy with major depressive disorder and informed him that he would continue to be held at Shiloh unless he was declared psychologically sound.

But the court documents contend that a large part of his depression had to do with “being kept from his family” who had arrived in the US before him, according to the Post.

Other testimony described the forceful administration of medication on children on multiple occasions. “I witnessed staff members forcefully give medication four times… Two staff members pinned down the girl… and a doctor gave her one or two injections,” said Isabella M., another child at Shiloh who was prescribed “multiple psychotropic medications” at the facility including topiramate, without her family’s consent.

“Nobody asked me for permission to give medications to my daughter, even though the staff at Shiloh has always had my telephone number and address,” Isabella’s mother testified.

Other children described being forcibly injected with drugs and being given pills “every morning and every night.”

Another child at Shiloh, Julio Z., said he “never knew exactly what the pills were.” Court documents list his drug regimen: Clonazepam (anti-anxiety), Divalproex (anti-convulsant), Duloxetine (anti-depressant), Guanfacine (ADHD medication), Latuda (anti-psychotic), Geodon (anti-psychotic), and Olanzapine (anti-psychotic).

“The staff threatened to throw me on the ground and force me to take the medication. I also saw staff throw another youth to the ground, pry his mouth open and force him to take the medicine,” Julio Z. testified. “They told me that if I did not take the medicine I could not leave, that the only way I could get out of Shiloh was if I took the pills.”

The Center for Investigative Reporting also found that a doctor at Shiloh had for nearly a decade prescribed psychotropic medication to children without board certification to treat children and adolescents.

View the original article at thefix.com

3 August 2018
Chuck Schumer: Feds Playing Yo-Yo With Funds To Fight Opioid Crisis

Senator Schumer is pushing for the CDC to reconsider its decision to pull anti-opioid funding from New York City.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York is unhappy with a recent decision from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Schumer says that last year, he added $350 million to a budget designed for the CDC to allocate funding to large cities including New York City, Philadelphia and Houston, Pix 11 reports.

However, Schumer said, that funding was suddenly taken away with no reason provided.

“Even more galling, New York City had already allocated this money,” Schumer said. “The CDC already said we’re going to send you this money.”

According to the New York Daily News, rather than be allocated to metropolitan areas, CDC officials say that a new federal policy dictates that the funds will be distributed between state offices.

This, Schumer says, will set up cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to get less funding than initially thought.

“There is simply no good reason for the feds to play yo-yo with critical federal funds that New York needs to beat back and address the opioid epidemic,” Schumer said in a statement. “By playing this dangerous and irresponsible game with these dollars, the federal government is setting an aberrant precedent and making a big mistake all at the same time.”

Schumer added that the city already had plans for the funding.

Pix 11 reports that New York City planned to use the federal funding for various programs, including one in which paramedics from the city’s fire department leave the opioid antidote, naloxone, in the homes of those with a history of substance use.

Schumer says he plans to fight the funding takeaway, which he claims will affect the state as a whole.

“Because when the city doesn’t get this money, the state has less money to go around,” he said. “New York City will have to now fight for state money, and that’ll hurt Long Island, hurt Westchester and frankly the whole state.”

In a letter to CDC Director Robert Redfield, Schumer pushed for the organization to reconsider.

“As some of the nation’s largest localities, which are facing some of the harshest impacts from the current addiction and overdose crisis, it is imperative that CDC provide fair funding allocation mechanisms that effectively address public health needs,” he wrote.

View the original article at thefix.com

2 August 2018
Recovery Advocates Respond To Trump's Opioid PSAs With New Video

Two recovery advocates made a personal video about their addiction struggles in hopes of getting a meeting with the president to discuss opioid policies.

The Trump Administration’s quartet of “Know the Truth” public service announcements about the dangers of opioid use and abuse have garnered mixed reviews from the recovery community for their shocking tone.

They have also spurred a response from an Ohio-based recovery advocate, who has created his own video that details a more personal take on dependency and recovery.

Richie Webber, who recovered from heroin dependency to found Fight for Recovery, and his friend Chanda Lynn, of Jamestown, New York, talk openly about their struggles with dependency in the video in hopes of not only encouraging viewers to do the same, but also garnering a meeting with President Trump to discuss more compassionate opioid policies. The video has been submitted to a White House site for review.

Webber has been sober for four years from a dependency on heroin that he developed in high school after suffering a sports injury. He currently operates Fight for Recovery, which offers support for those with dependency issues and their families and friends. He said that he was encouraged by Trump’s initial statements about dependency, which hinged on his brother, Fred, who struggled with alcoholism before his death in 1981.

But when he saw the “Know the Truth” videos, Webber said, “Wow, this isn’t going to work.” The strident tone reminded him of previous efforts, which he viewed as failed attempts. “We did the DARE commercials in the ’80s, and that clearly didn’t work,” he said.

So with Lynn, whose previous videos about recovery have generated more than 8 million views, and Zach Yoney of Sandusky, Ohio, he created a message that talked directly to viewers—and Trump—about their paths to recovery.

In the video, Webber discusses his “all-American” teen years, when he was a track star at Clyde High School, as well as the multiple overdoses, jail time and friends he lost to dependency. The piece concludes with a direct address to Trump: “Let us help you help America.”

Since its release on Facebook in early July 2018, the video has been viewed more than 163,000 times. Webber and Lynn have plans to release additional videos, and hope to start filming a new effort in September 2018.

He also remains active with Ohio-area events to raise awareness about dependency and recovery. “We’re just trying to cover as many bases as possible,” said Webber.

View the original article at thefix.com

26 July 2018
Bipartisan Bill To Protect States With Legalized Marijuana Gains Traction

The bill would allow states to determine “the best approach to marijuana within [their own] borders.”

Though Attorney General Jeff Sessions continues to wage war against marijuana, President Donald Trump has said that he is willing to support bipartisan legislation that would allow states to determine their own rules regarding the legalization and regulation of marijuana.

The bill was introduced by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Gardner (R-CO), who, as High Times noted, have taken distinctly opposite stances regarding marijuana in their respective states. But the pair has united over federal cannabis prohibition, which they view as impugning on not only states’ rights to determine their own laws, but also the legal cannabis industry’s ability to access safe banking and insurance.

Their efforts appear to have earned a positive response from Trump, who told reporters that he would “probably” support the bill.

The bill, called the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States, or STATES Act, would allow individual states, Washington, D.C., U.S. territories and federally recognized tribes to determine for themselves “the best approach to marijuana within [their own] borders.”

This would be accomplished by amending the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) so that those states or tribes that comply with basic protection would be considered exempt from federal law regarding the “manufacture, production, possession, dispensation, administration, or delivery of marijuana.”

The STATES Act would also remove industrial hemp from the CSA, and would implement several “common-sense guardrails” to ensure that states continue to regulate marijuana in a “safe and respectful manner” that is compliant with federal standards. These include prohibiting individuals under the age of 18 to work in marijuana operations and preventing sale or distribution of marijuana to individuals under the age of 21 for reasons other than medical purposes.

Additionally, and most crucially for legal cannabis business, the bill would allow federally insured banks to do business with such entities.

In a statement, Senator Warren wrote, “The federal government needs to get out of the business of outlawing marijuana.” She added that current federal laws have negatively impacted the criminal justice system, scientific research and economic development, while states like Massachusetts have implemented commonsense marijuana legislation that has supported these categories. “They have the right to enforce their own marijuana policies,” she wrote.

Senator Gardner took similar aim at government policies in his statement while focusing his argument on states’ rights issues.

“The federal government is closing its eyes and plugging its ears while 46 states have acted,” he wrote. “The bipartisan, commonsense bill ensures the federal government will respect the will of the voters—whether that is legalization or prohibition—and not interfere in an states’ legal marijuana industry.”

At a press conference on June 6, President Trump said that he knew “exactly what [Senator Gardner’s] doing,” and “probably will end up supporting” the STATES Act.

Given Trump’s penchant for spur-of-the-moment decisions that often take his cabinet and party by surprise, it remains unclear whether he will ultimately voice approval for the bill, but the statement flies in the face of Attorney General Sessions’ stance on marijuana, which was crystallized in a January 2018 memo granting federal prosecutors the “necessary tools” to crack down on cannabis.

View the original article at thefix.com

13 June 2018
"Shock Value" Anti-Opioid PSAs Debut To Mixed Response

The four videos feature actors portraying individuals who go to extremely violent lengths to enable their opioid dependency.

The Trump administration unveiled a quartet of public service announcements (PSAs) as part of its proposed $4.6 billion fight against the opioid epidemic.

The four videos, all purported to be based on true stories, feature actors portraying individuals who go to extreme lengths to enable their opioid dependency: one is seen smashing their hand with a hammer, while another drives a car into a dumpster.

The videos, which began airing on television and and social media on June 7, have drawn not only comparison to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s “This is your brain on drugs” campaign of the 1980s, but also a mixed response from drug policy organizations, with some expressing positive views while others labeled the PSAs as “shock value” or “disingenuous and misleading.”

The ad campaign, which is the first stage in an educational effort called “The Truth About Opioids,” is a joint effort between the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the Truth Initiative and the Ad Council.

An array of media partners, including Facebook, Google, YouTube and Amazon have committed to donating airtime and ad space for the PSAs, which according to Ad Council CEO Lisa Sherman, is worth roughly $30 million.

Jim Carroll, deputy director of the ONDCP, was unable to provide an exact figure on how much his agency spent on the campaign, but noted that “very few government dollars” were used, due to the Truth Initiative and Ad Council donating their work and the media partners’ donated airtime.

Fred Mensch, president of the nonprofit Partnership for Drug-Free Kids—the Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s moniker since 2010—spoke highly of the PSAs, which he described as having “the potential to generate a dialogue between parents and kids on this complex health issue.”

But Daniel Raymond, deputy director of planning and policy at the Harm Reduction Coalition, called the spots “the 21st century version of the egg-in-the-frying-pan” commercial, referring to the “your brain on drugs” spot, which was created by Partnership for Drug-Free Kids.

“We don’t need shock value to fight the overdose crisis,” said Raymond. We need empathy, connection and hope for people struggling with opioids. The White House missed an opportunity to combat stigma and stereotypes, portraying people who use opioids as irrational and self-destructive.”

Stefanie Jones, director of audience development for the Drug Policy Alliance, praised the Truth About Opioids web site for providing useful information and resources, but found that the ads “take really extreme cases,” she said. “It’s all about self-harm to seek opioids, and they also end with the same ‘fact’ about how dependence can start after five days, and that’s just an incredible simplification.”

The nature of the PSAs seem to suggest what Trump alluded to in March 2018 about a “large-scale rollout of commercials” intended to raise awareness about opioid dependency.

At the time, Trump said that he had long been in favor of “spending a lot of money on great commercials showing how bad [opioid dependency] is.” He added that his administration would make the spots “very, very bad commercials” in which “you scare [audiences] from ending up like the people commercials,” and cited similar examples in anti-smoking PSAs.

In May 2018, Axios quoted an unnamed source with an alleged connection to the PSAs, who said that “[Trump] thinks you have to engage and enrage.”

View the original article at thefix.com

12 June 2018