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| President Donald Trump signs legislation to help combat the opioid crisis, at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI |
By Danielle Haynes, UPI
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed sweeping opioid legislation with dozens of provisions to treat and conduct research on addiction.
He signed the bill a month after Congress overwhelmingly passed it with bipartisan support.
"Together we are going to end the scourge of drug addiction in America," Trump said during the signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House. "We are either going to end it or we are going to make an extremely big dent in this terrible, terrible problem."
A year ago, Trump declared a national public health emergency to tackle opioid addiction. Since then, the Justice Department established a number of task forces to target the crisis criminally.
Opioids killed an estimated 49,000 Americans in 2017, down from 64,000 in 2016.
In addition to signing the bill, Trump announced new commitments from the private sector to help curb the crisis by implementing drug disposal programs, increasing education and supporting recovery.
Those companies include Amazon, Belden Industries, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, CVS Health, Dispose RX, Emergent BioSolutions, Facebook, Global Teen Challenge, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Leidos, My Pillow, National Head Start Association, National Safety Council, Red Cross, Rite Aid, Ultimate Fighting Championship, Unshattered, Walgreens and Walmart.
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