White House Plans to Spend Millions to Fight Heroin
The CNN White House producer reported this week that the White House announced a new initiative of $2.5 million to fund fighting heroin trafficking along the Eastern seaboard. That part of the country has seen a recent spike in the last few years, and the White House is working to combat it.
The White House plan will include 15 states from the area and is aiming to focus more on addiction treatment and prevention than consequences. In effect, law enforcement agencies and public health officials will be paired in creating new heroin response teams who will communicate regarding the information obtained after heroin overdose incidents and drug raids. They also hope to map the trafficking routes of heroin distribution and train their first responders to treat overdoses more effectively. Further, the report indicates that officials want more access to a drug that is used to reverse the effects of a heroin overdose, naloxone.
The CNN report also indicated that the White House plan was motivated by the huge increase in heroin use nation wide. For instance, just since 2002, overdose deaths from heroin have nearly quadrupled. This growing epidemic correlates with the increase in use of addictive prescription opiates, as well as the extensive availability of inexpensive heroin.