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Trump declares opioid crisis a 'national public health emergency'

The President pledges to overcome a crisis that kills nearly 100 Americans a day - more than gun violence and car crashes.

Donald Trump speaking on efforts to end the opioid crisis
Image: Last year at least 64,000 Americans died from overdoses
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Donald Trump has declared America's use of opioids a national public health emergency, calling it "the worst drug crisis in American history".

The President will direct all executive agencies to use every appropriate emergency authority to fight the opioid crisis, which he described as a "worldwide problem".

"We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic - we can do it," he said in a speech at the White House.

He said the "crisis of drug use, addiction and overdose deaths, in many years" requires "all of our effort and will require us to confront the crisis in all of its very real complexity."

A heroin user on the street in a South Bronx neighbourhood
Image: A heroin user on the street in a South Bronx neighbourhood

The President said that last year at least 64,000 Americans died from overdoses - the leading cause of unintentional deaths in the US "by far".

More people die from drugs than from "gun homicides and motor vehicles combined", he added.

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More on Opioids

The US uses more opioid pills per person than any other country in the world. The crisis kills nearly 100 Americans a day.

"No part of our society, not young or old, rich or poor, urban or rural has been spared this plague of drug addiction," the President said.

Donald Trump on his efforts to combat the opioid epidemic
Image: The President signed a memorandum as he declared the public health emergency

The Trump administration plans to announce a new policy to overcome a "restrictive 1970s-era rule" that prevents states from providing care at certain treatment facilities with more than 16 beds for those suffering from drug addiction.

"You should expect to see approvals that will unlock treatment for people in need and those approvals will come very very fast, not like in the past, " said the President.

Mr Trump's announcement of an emergency will allow the government to redirect resources, but it won't bring new funds to the fight - causing Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi to call his declaration "words without money".

To end the epidemic, Mr Trump said there would need to be a mobilisation of government, local communities and private organisations.

Melania Trump spoke of cases of addictions she encountered
Image: Melania Trump spoke of cases of addiction that moved her

The US government will be working with doctors and medical professionals to implement best practices for "safe opioid prescribing" and "requiring federally employed prescribers" to receive special training.

"I want the American people to know the federal government is aggressively fighting the opioid epidemic on all fronts," he said.