Opioid Epidemic Should be Declared National Emergency: Trump Drug Commission

President Trump’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis called on him this week to declare a national emergency to tackle the nation’s opioid epidemic.

The Associated Press reports the commission recommended enforcing requirements that health plans provide the same level of services for those with physical health issues as those with mental health and substance use issues. The group also recommended equipping all law enforcement officers with the opioid overdose antidote naloxone; providing funds for federal agencies to develop sensors that can detect fentanyl; and increasing the use of medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction in prisons.

The group called for requiring doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners in federally qualified health centers to get waivers to prescribe buprenorphine to treat addiction, and for achieving data sharing among state prescription drug monitoring programs by July 1, 2018.