Answer Addiction

Tag: White House

  • US Health Chief Announces Support For Needle Exchange Programs

    US Health Chief Announces Support For Needle Exchange Programs

    The Health Secretary’s reversal on needle exchange programs may be related to a new 2030 deadline related to HIV.

    Speaking at the National HIV Prevention Conference on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar expressed support for needle exchange programs as a way to stop the spread of HIV.

    Republicans like Azar have largely resisted these programs, believing that they will encourage drug use—but evidence to the contrary appears to have convinced the HHS Secretary otherwise.

    “Syringe services programs aren’t necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when you think about a Republican health secretary, but we’re in a battle between sickness and health, between life and death,” Azar said during his speech according to The Hill. “The public health evidence for targeted interventions here is strong, and supporting communities when they need to use these tools means fewer infections and healthier lives for our fellow Americans.”

    Needle exchange programs have existed for years, but are as important as ever with the national opioid crisis. These programs have reduced the spread of dangerous viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C through intravenous drug use. The first such program in the U.S. was established in 1988 in Tacoma, Washington, and was rewarded with a 60% reduction in new hepatitis B and C cases.

    Studies over the decades have also consistently found that these services do not increase the number of intravenous drug users. At the same time, needle exchange programs cost significantly less than treating new cases of HIV and hepatitis.

    However, the larger Trump administration still opposes these programs as well as safe injection sites where individuals can use drugs without fear of arrest, and in the presence of medical professionals who both provide clean equipment and are ready to save lives in case of an overdose.

    In February, the Department of Justice sued Safehouse, a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia, to prevent them from opening the country’s first safe injection site.

    Azar’s reversal on needle exchange programs may be related to a new 2030 deadline related to HIV. Earlier this month, the Trump administration revealed its 2020 budget proposal, which included a request for $291 million for an ambitious plan to end the “HIV epidemic” in a decade.

    “For the first time in modern history, America has the ability to end the epidemic, with the availability of biomedical interventions such as antiretroviral therapy and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP),” the budget plan reads.

    With Azar’s statements at the National HIV Prevention Conference, it appears that needle exchange programs could become a part of these efforts. Most of the $291 million requested will be given to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which supports and helps to fund these services.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Trump Administration Finally Adds Drug Czar – But Will He Be Able to Do His Job?

    Trump Administration Finally Adds Drug Czar – But Will He Be Able to Do His Job?

    Jim Carroll will serve as Trump’s “drug czar,” taking over responsibilities largely led by Trump advisors Kellyanne Conway and Katy Talento.

    One of the hundreds of key jobs with agencies in Donald Trump’s White House that have gone unfilled since his inauguration now has an occupant. STAT has reported that Jim Carroll will serve as Trump’s “drug czar” at the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), a role he has maintained as acting director since April 2018.

    But as both Politico and STAT noted, Carroll may have the title but not necessarily the reins of ONDCP policy, as decision-making on the national opioid crisis has been largely led by Trump advisors Kellyanne Conway and Katy Talento. The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy has also gained a director in former University of Oklahoma professor Kelvin Droegemeier, who filled a seat left empty since January 2017.

    Their appointments by a lame-duck Congress on January 2 coincide with a tumultuous period for the administration, which is in the midst of a partial government shutdown and a House under Democratic control. Putting Carroll in charge of the ONDCP may end a glaring absence in the direction of opioid policy while, as STAT noted, 70,000 Americans die each year from overdose-related deaths.

    But as STAT also noted, Carroll is a former commonwealth attorney for Fairfax Virginia who has held several positions within the Trump administration, including stints with the Justice and Treasury Departments, and has also worked for the Ford Motor Company.

    He lacks any public health experience beyond his appointment as acting director, though the White House stated that the majority of Carroll’s cases in Virginia were drug-related, and he worked with attorneys dealing with substance abuse issues at the Virginia State Bar.

    Carroll is also taking the helm of an office that has been marked by a general lack of cohesiveness since Trump took office. The loss of several key personnel, including a press secretary and communications director, who were replaced by inexperienced staffers – including 24-year-old Taylor Weyeneth, a former campaign worker who served as deputy chief of staff – and controversy over the nomination of Rep. Tom Marino, who reportedly pushed a bill that would weaken the Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to regulate opioid distributors suspected of misconduct – has left employees at the DEA feeling rudderless, according to officials cited by STAT.

    Policy direction has been largely left to Conway, who has drawn fire for statements about drug dependency that have been perceived as ill-informed or insensitive. She told ABC’s This Week in 2017 that “will” is a key component to battling the opioid epidemic and informed Fox News that same year that “the best way to stop people from dying from overdoses . . . is by not starting in the first place.” Conway was later excoriated on social media for advising young people to choose ice cream and French fries over fentanyl.

    The other administration appointment, Kelvin Droegemeier, faces a similar uphill battle at the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The agency has also lost a significant number of staffers, and the Trump administration has maintained a skeptical stance on issues of climate change. The appointment of Droegemeier, a former meteorologist, has been praised by science advocates, but as with Carroll, it remains unclear as to how much he’ll be able to accomplish in his new position.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Trump Wants New Anti-Opioid PSA Campaign To "Engage And Enrage"

    Trump Wants New Anti-Opioid PSA Campaign To "Engage And Enrage"

    The White House’s new ad campaign will echo the “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” ad campaign first launched in 1987.

    The Trump administration’s anti-opioid ad campaign is coming soon, according to Axios.

    The PSA campaign, the product of a partnership between the White House and the Ad Council, will “shock the conscience,” a source disclosed to Axios. They added, “[President Trump] thinks you have to engage and enrage.”

    The president declared in March that the government will oversee a “large-scale rollout of commercials” to raise awareness about the dangers of opioid abuse.

    “The best way to beat the drug crisis is to keep people from getting hooked in the first place. This has been something I have been strongly in favor of—spending a lot of money on great commercials showing how bad it is,” said Trump at the time.

    “So that kids seeing those commercials during the right shows on television or wherever, the internet, when they see these commercials they [say], ‘I don’t want any part of it.’ That is the least expensive thing we can do. Where you scare them from ending up like the people in the commercials and we will make them very, very bad commercials. We will make them pretty unsavory situations and you have seen it before and it had an impact on smoking and cigarettes.”

    Indeed, research has estimated that the anti-smoking campaign by the Truth Initiative has prevented approximately 301,930 young Americans from smoking in 2015-2016. However, national anti-drug initiatives like “Just Say No” and “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” are generally considered unsuccessful in their attempts at keeping kids off drugs.

    The new ad campaign will echo the “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” ad campaign first launched in 1987. According to Axios’ source, Trump is a fan of the ad’s shock value and stark message.

    Since its debut, the ad has been re-made to feature Rachel Leigh Cook in a 1997 rendition. The actress appeared in a 2016 version of the ad as well, but this time to highlight a totally different message: “This is your brain on the war on drugs.”

    Cook, in partnership with the Drug Policy Alliance, resurrected the iconic egg and frying pan motif to bring awareness to all the ways that the War on Drugs is ruining people’s lives. “It fuels mass incarceration. It targets people of color in greater numbers than their white counterparts,” says Cook in the ad. “It cripples communities. It costs billions. And it doesn’t work. Any questions?”

    The ad was re-made a different way in the same year, with the original anti-drug message but for a new generation. The ad begins with the familiar image of an egg cracking into a sizzling frying pan: “This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?”

    But instead of ending there, as the original PSA did, a child responds:

    “Yeah, I have questions.”

    “Why is heroin so addictive?”

    “Weed’s legal, isn’t it?”

    “Prescription drugs aren’t as bad as street drugs, right?”

    And finally: “Mom, Dad, did you ever try drugs?”

    View the original article at thefix.com