President Obama seeks $1.1 billion to address heroin and opiate epidemic
By Payton Guion
As heroin- and opioid-related deaths have reached unprecedented levels in the United States, President Barack Obama has asked for an additional $1.1 billion to fund treatment of heroin and opiate addiction.
The White House released the proposal Tuesday, noting that opiate overdoses - which includes heroin - killed more people than car accidents in 2014. The majority of the money would go toward working with states to expand access to medication-assisted treatment for opiate addiction, according to the proposal. This funding will be included in the fiscal 2017 budget request.
New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, whose state has been devestated by the heroin epidemic, applauded the proposal in a statement on her website.
“The heroin and opioid crisis is the most urgent public health and public safety challenge facing New Hampshire, and combating this crisis requires us all to work together at the state, federal and local levels every single day," the governor said. "Our law enforcement community and public health experts across the state have made it clear that we cannot arrest our way out of this crisis, and I am encouraged by the President’s recognition that states need additional support from our federal partners to support prevention, treatment and recovery programs."
The Centers for Disease Control reported that in 2014, 28,648 people in the U.S. died from opioid-related overdoses. Since 2000, opioid-related overdose deaths have increased 200 per cent, the CDC reported.
The current epidemic started from an overprescription of prescription painkillers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. People quickly became addicted and, once regulators became aware of the problem, the pills became harder to get. Many turned to heroin, which can be significantly cheaper than painkillers. In New York, heroin is often cheaper than marijuana, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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