President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan bill aimed at tackling the nation’s growing opioid epidemic.
The opioid legislation, officially titled the Substance-Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act, indicates clear progress in America’s fight against opioid addiction and treatment.
“The legislation is historic in its breadth and commitment to the problem,” Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for Health and senior advisor for Opioid Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told Yahoo Finance. “Whether it’s enough, it’s what we know to do right now. It’s the right legislation at the right time.”
The new law targets overprescription and opioid trafficking. Several provisions of the new law are intended to minimize trafficking through “mandatory advance electronic information for postal shipments, civil penalties for postal shipments, international postal agreements, and report on violations of arrival, reporting, entry, and clearance requirements and falsity or lack of manifest.”
While most of the specific costs are still unknown, Vox reported that the opioid legislation reauthorizes funding from the Cures Act, “which put $500 million a year toward the opioid crisis, and makes tweaks to hopefully give states more flexibility in using the funding.”
