The President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis issued a preliminary report on Monday stating that its \u201cfirst and most urgent recommendation\u201d is for the president to \u201cdeclare a national emergency under either the Public Health Service Act or the Stafford Act.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith approximately 142 Americans dying every day,\u201d the report notes, \u201cAmerica is enduring a death toll equal to September 11th every three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The commission, led by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, states that the goals of such a declaration would be to \u201cforce Congress to focus on funding\u201d and to \u201cawaken every American to this simple fact: if this scourge has not found you or your family yet, without bold action by everyone, it soon will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a> and see also this report<\/a> which says nearly 40% of Americans use opioids to manage pain, according to a federal government study, with deaths more than quadrupling between 1999 and 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis issued a preliminary report on Monday stating that its \u201cfirst and most urgent recommendation\u201d is for the president to \u201cdeclare a national emergency under either the Public Health Service…<\/span><\/p>\n