With Biden Team Focused On Other Crises, Experts Say Drug Epidemic Is Exploding
By Brian Mann
January 29, 2021
In the weeks after winning the November election, Joe Biden began naming officials to tackle the vortex of crises his administration would face on day one.
But despite a soaring death rate from drug overdoses, which hit a grim new record in 2020, President Biden hasn’t named permanent leaders for three key agencies tasked with tackling the drug epidemic: the Food and Drug Administration, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“It’s a front burner issue on any day of the week but not on this day,” Reuben Guttman, an expert on drug policy who teaches at Emory Law, said last week in an interview with NPR. “And that’s a real problem.”
Listen • 3:08
President Joe Biden speaks about the coronavirus pandemic in the State Dining Room of the White House on Tuesday.
In the weeks after winning the November election, Joe Biden began naming officials to tackle the vortex of crises his administration would face on day one.
But despite a soaring death rate from drug overdoses, which hit a grim new record in 2020, President Biden hasn t named permanent leaders for three key agencies tasked with tackling the drug epidemic: the Food and Drug Administration, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Administration. It s a front-burner issue on any day of the week but not on this day, Reuben Guttman, an expert on drug policy who teaches at Emory Law, said last week in an interview with NPR. And that s a real problem.
We re almost one week into the Biden administration, and already there are a slew of changes. I mean, the president signed 17 executive orders in his first hours in office alone.
To help make sense of it all, we asked WBUR reporters to dig into key issues of importance to Massachusetts: what changes are (or may be) coming under the Biden administration, and what they re watching out for in the weeks to come.
This explainer was created as a special edition of WBUR s daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. To get more of the news Boston is talking about, sign up here.
SummitStone Health Partners Opens 16-Bed Inpatient Behavioral Health Facility
Share Article FORT COLLINS, Colo. (PRWEB) January 25, 2021 SummitStone Health Partners announces the grand opening of Garcia House, A Circle Program by SummitStone. Garcia House is named in honor of one of Larimer County’s most stalwart Substance Use Disorder (SUD) champions, Fred Garcia. It is one of only three Circle Programs within the State of Colorado.
Garcia House provides residential treatment for up to 16 residents who are working through co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (SUD), bringing our community one step closer to achieving the vision of providing a full continuum of care for adult SUD services within Northern Colorado. Length of stay will be determined by medical necessity and may be up to 90 days, with intensive support following discharge.
Reeths-Puffer High School awarded $625K for drug prevention program
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and last updated 2021-01-20 18:13:53-05
MUSKEGON, Mich. â Straight Talk About Tough Stuff (STATS) recently learned they will receive a $125,000 Drug-Free Communities Support Program Grant each year for the next five years.
The grant was awarded by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to students, educators, community leaders, the Health Project of Mercy Health, and Muskegon Township Police.
âSTATS has always focused on peer leadership. This focus will become even stronger as youth are given more opportunities to engage in activities and learning. Some will even participate in a national conference,â said STATS Coordinator Jennifer LaChapelle of the Health Project.