President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a bill—passed by a 98-1 vote in the Senate and a 393-8 vote in the House—aimed at making medical treatment for opioid addiction more widely available while also cracking down on illicit drugs being sent through the mail.
President Trump Signs into Law New Legislation Addressing Opioid Crisis
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a bill—passed by a 98-1 vote in the Senate and a 393-8 vote in the House—aimed at making medical treatment for opioid addiction more widely available while also cracking down on illicit drugs being sent through the mail.
October 25, 2018
1 min to read
"Together we are going to end the scourge of drug addiction in America," Trump said during the signing event at the White House. "We are going to end it or we are going to at least make an extremely big dent in this terrible, terrible problem."
Importantly, the bill—dubbed the Support for Patients and Communities Act—also mandates that there be training and resources "for first responders and members of other key community sectors on safety around fentanyl and other dangerous illicit drugs to protect themselves from exposure to fentanyl and respond appropriately when exposure occurs."
According to Fox News, 48,000 overdose deaths in 2016 involved opioids.
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