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Morning Briefing

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Thursday, May 23 2019

Full Issue

'We Didn鈥檛 Get Into This Crisis Overnight': A Look At How Fentanyl Has Thwarted Both The Trump And Obama Administrations

The Trump administration struggles to make headway against the fentanyl-driven opioid epidemic, with public health experts pointing to the need for more resources and an investment that matches the sheer scale of the crisis. President Donald Trump inherited the thorny issue from President Barack Obama who had missteps, as well.

In a dungeon-like jail in the center of this depressed farming town, 18 women in orange-and-white-striped prison uniforms are crammed into a two-story cellblock. Many of them are withdrawing from fentanyl. ... The inmates here are at least alive 鈥 unlike so many drug users in this part of central Ohio, 40 miles southwest of Columbus. Fayette County has the seventh-highest number of fentanyl overdose deaths per capita in the nation, according to internal data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention obtained and analyzed by The Washington Post. While the Trump administration has made the opioid epidemic a priority, people in communities across the country continue to die in record numbers from fentanyl, and health officials are struggling to provide treatment for tens of thousands more, like the men and women warehoused inside this jail. (Horwitz, Higham, Rich and Hanssen, 5/22)

In other news on the crisis 鈥

In April, as he prepared to announce his presidential candidacy, Joe Biden went on an apology tour that noticeably stopped short of issuing any apologies. He called Anita Hill and, in the words of a campaign statement, shared 鈥渉is regret for what she endured鈥 at the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, which Biden chaired some 28 years ago. He recorded a video expressing regret for not being more 鈥渕indful鈥 of the personal-space boundaries of women after several allegations of unwanted and nonconsensual touching. He then went on 鈥淭he View鈥 and argued that in neither of these instances did his actions warrant an apology. He did, however, half-apologize for one thing: His role in creating one of the most insidious aspects of the War on Drugs, even while minimizing his role in it. (Siegel, 5/23)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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