Lawmakers missed the deadline to renew a law supporting treatment and recovery.
America’s drug overdose crisis is out of control. Washington, despite a bipartisan desire to combat it, is finding its addiction-fighting programs are failing.
In 2018, Republicans, Democrats and then-President Donald Trump united around legislation that threw $20 billion into treatment, prevention and recovery. But five years later, the SUPPORT Act has lapsed and the number of Americans dying from overdoses has grown more than 60 percent, driven by illicit fentanyl. The battle has turned into a slog.
Even though 105,000 Americans died last year, Congress is showing little urgency about reupping the law since it expired on Sept. 30. That’s not because of partisan division, but a realization that there are no quick fixes a new law could bring to bear.
20b is less than 3 days of military spending. thats how important this is to us.
3 days.
you want to solve this, decriminalize the national healthcare crisis that is drug use. put an actual percentage of the 'defense' budget against it. stop pretending like throwing a one time pittance at a shitty program is going to solve it.
We did that in Oregon, ballot measure 110, and it's been a disaster. Crime is up. Overdoses are up. You know what's not up? People seeking treatment.
Here's how it works... You get busted with drugs, it's a $100 fine. The fine is waived if you seek treatment. 16,000 people got ticketed. Less than 150 sought treatment. :(
Did Oregon do anything to address why so many people want to use fentanyl? You can fix people with drug abuse treatment when the drug abuse is a symptom of a larger problem—like homelessness—that's going untreated.
Unfortunately, no, and like I say, overdoses are through the roof and it's not just the homeless. People thinking they're getting one drug, getting fentanyl instead. Kids getting it accidentally. Teenagers being stupid.
Before the Isreal Hamas flare up I saw reports saying the US was mulling the idea of ground presence in Haiti. The military looks more apt to try and find problems to insert themselves rather than not spend taxpayer money. God forbid they let their budget go down.