President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at coordinating a federal response to drug addiction and substance abuse.
The order creates a "White House Great American Recovery Initiative," which will advise federal agencies on directing grants to support addiction recovery and increase awareness about drug addiction, according to a White House fact sheet.
The group will advise agencies on integrating programs focused on drug prevention, early intervention, treatment, recovery support, and reentry.
"Many of those with me today have personally known the heartache of a loved one taken by drug or alcohol addiction. I do, just like millions of American families," Trump said at the Oval Office in remarks that aired live on Newsmax and the free Newsmax2 streaming platform.
Trump has spoken publicly about his older brother Fred Trump Jr.'s long battle with alcoholism and its impact on his life and premature death.
"Every year we lose an estimated 300,000 people to drug and alcohol abuse," Trump said. "And the real number is probably much, much higher than that.
"Thankfully, drug overdose deaths plummeted by 21% in the last year. We're working very hard on it.
"We've closed the southern border, seized over 47 million fentanyl pills and 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder. That's a record."
The initiative will be chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathryn Burgum, an advocate for addiction recovery and the spouse of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Kathryn Burgum has spoken openly about her past struggle with alcoholism and has been in recovery for more than two decades. She and Kennedy attended Trump's signing of the executive order.
"Addiction is not a moral failure," said Kennedy, who has publicly acknowledged a history of substance abuse, particularly in his younger years. "It is a disease. It's chronic. It's treatable.
"And for too long, our nation has responded with fragmentation, with stigmatization and silence instead of science, compassion and coordination."
"Today, President Trump changed that with a Great American Recovery Initiative. We finally bring the full strength of the federal government together across healthcare, law enforcement, housing, labor, faith communities, and the private sector to save lives, restore families and rebuild communities that addiction has hollowed out.
"Nearly 50 million Americans suffer from substance use disorder. Many never received treatment. Even more don't believe that help is possible.
"That is not because recovery doesn't work. It's because our systems have failed to reach the people where they are early enough, long enough, and with dignity. This initiative fixes that."
Kennedy said the initiative will align federal programs "instead of letting them operate in silos."
"We will set clear, measurable goals and report honestly to the American people," he said. "We use evidence-based care, modern science, and continuous support, just as we do for heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses.
"We will focus on prevention before addiction takes hold. We will intervene early. We will expand access to treatment that leads to real long-term recovery.
"And we will support reentry, because recovery does not end when treatment ends, it succeeds when people return to their families, their jobs, and their communities with purpose and with hope."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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