Country. Maybe one thing everyone can agree on is this. Its an epidemic of an emergency of epic proportions. The president will make his official announcement of what he is going to do about it. Were going to be doing a very, very important meeting sometime in the very short future in terms of declaring an Opioid Crisis. Its hitting every part of my state of West Virginia and every part of this great country. There are people dying every day from this horrible epidemic and we need more resources. We need them now. If we had a terrorist organi organization that was killing 142 million americans on our soil, how much would we be willing to spend to stop it . President trump will stop short of making a formal declaration. Instead, hell declare it as a Public Health emergency, one that hits home for many americans. The supply is so great in dayton that you can drive down many, many roads in this city and they will give you free samples of drugs. Thats unbelievable. There is 142 deaths every day which means 10,700 people have died just since President Trump said he would address the topic back in august. Kristen welker is at the white house. Kate snow is here in the newsroom. Live in brussels, medical correspondent dr. John torres and dr. Barry mcccaffrey and filmmaker and author of i am a heroin addict. Kristen, this announcement comes 77 days after the president declared the Opioid Crisis a National Emergency. Realworld impact, what does it mean to declare a Public Health emergency . Reporter chris, lets talk about what this does and doesnt do. A Public Health emergency means that states will have more flexibility to deal with this crisis and we have a lock at some of the top lines. Its also going to give states more access to some funds that are set up to deal with this type of a crisis. It will allow treatment prescriptions through telemedicine. Thats significant because folks who live in more rural areas are going to be able to have tell conferences with their doctors, potentially get medicine prescribed over the phone. It means they will put a real focus on beefing up health staff in states that are being hit hard by this. Now, what it doesnt do is allow this crisis to use funds from the federal Disaster Relief fund. That is significant. Look, that fund is typically used for mings like hurricanes or natural disasters. The Administration Says that fund is set up for shortterm problems, not for longterm problems like this Opioid Crisis with the administration argues is a longterm and ongoing issue that they are going to need to deal with. Now, you can expect a robust push for congress to put more money into the federal funds that will be directed toward dealing with this, more resources. Again, youre going to have critics who say the president said he was going to declare this a National Emergency and this Public HealthEmergency Declaration falls short of that. Chris . Kate, as she said, the people you have talked to are in the throes of this crisis. Its interesting. This morning i was in dayton, ohio, and i was speaking with folks there. They dont care what you call it, if its National Emergency being Public Health emergency. I just followed up with a phone call this morning to one of the gentlemen we met last night because last night we didnt know what this announcement would look like. The bottom line is, he said to me, you could say youre going to spend a trillion dollars unless it gets to the right places in their community, they dont see the impact. So they want to know the details of what exactly is coming to dayton and what exactly is going to help them with the issues that they talked about last night. For example, access to Treatment Facilities. Right now the average in that county is about three or four weeks you have to wait when if youre a person with Substance Abuse issues, you decide you want help, you want an inpatient facility, youre waiting three or four weeks before you can get in. So that involves policy and log jams where there are not enough beds or facilities. Thats the kind of stuff that they want to see changed. And speaking of doctors, dr. John torres, you sat down with a panel of them who drove home just how broad this crisis is. I want to play some of your discussion. How do wellmeaning doctors that are prescribing patients that are in pain, how did we fuel this epidemic . About one in ten people who gets a surgery in this country will go on to become a continual opioid user. That doesnt mean theyre addicted but three, six months after their surgery, we have 300 Million People every engineer who have become continual opioid users. Thats a setup for those people becoming addicted. And when were talking about young people, this one in ten number that youve mentioned is likely to be even higher. Probably. We havent seen those numbers yet but we know that the adolescence brain, i had my wisdom teeth removed and got put on opioids and now im using heroin. And prescribed opioids was the gateway, as you said. Switch to the dental aspect of this. Dentists appear to be the biggest prescribers for pain. We are at 12 and the number one prescribers for patients ages 10 to 19. Do they really need those opioid pain medications after a wisdom tut taken out, any of those things. The studies are showing that alternatives are just as good, antii antiinflammatory. Drl jo dr. John, when you hear somebody say that they have a wisdom tooth removed and they get prescribed opioids and they are addicted to heroin, what the president is going to announce today is about money but isnt there a change that has to happen in terms of how we treat these drugs . And there is a change that has to happen. One of the things i talked to docs about in their round table, unless we sign that prescription, they are not going to get the opioids to start with, especially after surgeries or dental procedures, that become as gateway to addiction for some people. Were starting to see more and more. We talked about the dental arena, ibuprofen, these types of medications and they are working quite well. In the surgical arena, for example, Ross Medical Center in chicago, they are sending patients with nonsteroidals and its working very well. Richard, what happened . So many other people who find themselves caught in the throes of these crisises are not thought of as drug addicts. Tell us your story. You know, i got addicted many years ago and it stems from the same situation. I was a football player, knee operation, given percocet. I think where we have the wrong dialogue, we can talk forever about, you know, how we get here but were already there. And today when President Trump goes and says that hes going to do what hes going to do, which is going to mean absolutely nothing because we will never beat we will never touch this Opioid Epidemic by treating opium addicts with opioids. So if the major treatment in this country for the millions and millions of addicts are two things, methadone and seb box sin and an opioid aganist create a positive awareness. You think about that. It immediately takes them they dont have to have any more physical pain or any more emotional pain. Now, who wouldnt want to wake up every morning like that with none of that. So now the brain starts to get rewired because you go to your doctor and he says take this seboxine because you have a disease and now you remove the feelings. There is controversy. General mccaffrey, where do you see the crux of the problem at what needs to be done and what do you want to hear from the president today . Well, from the president , all we can expect is prevention and education and the ability to rationally deal with a couple of million chronic addicts to opioids. By the way, i could not disagree more with what richie just said. One aspect of getting people in recovery and keeping them there, an opioid addiction, is to use drugs like methadone. They all have their play in a comprehensive treatment regime. Not alone. You also have to engage the 12step process, education of the addict. There has to be oversight and drug testing. But we should never let go of the pharmaceutical intervention as one aspect of a comprehensive recovery program. I want to take a look at some video that just came in to us today. Its from a florida officers body camera. It shows a scene of Police Officers that Police Officers across the country see every day, parents passed out in the front seat of their car with an infant in the back. I know, kate, youve seen these kinds of things in your reporting. Youve gone into schools and youve seen the very real impact of children and families. Lets bring this home as we wait for the president about what is going on out in america beyond the horror of how many deaths there are. Right. The impact on the kids. And you see the person waking up there because he or she was given narcan which happens in the field. I was out with dayton fire the other day and they see this every day and often they see children in the car or at the house where they are treating someone. Last night i was at a group called families of addicts in dayton where theres family members and also people in recovery. I want to play a little sound, chris, of a woman whose son is in recovery. I asked her, what would you say to the president . What id like to say to the president is that he needs to take some queues from dayton, from Montgomery County in particular, that they are looking for a drug czar, someone in the community who has lived it. I think we cant turn our we cant put all of our hopes in congress because they havent lived this life. Shes saying congress hasnt lived this, that drugs czar is an open position, the white house having to withdraw the last person they recommended. She wants that person, whoever it is, to be someone from a community who really gets whats going on. There was a real sense last night that they think washington doesnt get it. In fact, as you well know, general, the nominee for the drug czar withdrew after that Washington Post report that he helped let legislation through congress that weakened the deas ability to go after drug distributors. If you want to go back, sort of backup to how we got here, is there one thing you can look at that says this is how we got here but this is where we need to stop it . Look, the nomination of congressman marino, i have no idea why they did that. We have an acting director who is doing sa terrific job. We need somebody in the position who has the confidence of the white house to organize what is really a program across many federal agencies, not just these terrific Law Enforcement professionals and dea but health and human services, department of education, veterans administration, veterans affairs. You know, so we are lacking leadership on the issue. There are people in congress, by the way, like senator rob portman, who totally understands the issue. We just got the cara act passed with the help of this addition policy forum so there are people in washington who understand the issue. We need resources behind sensible sciencebased policy. Richie, you said we have to throw out the book and write a new one and youve expressed how you feel about some of the treatments. But what else did you experience and do you see now that makes you say weve got to throw out the book and heres what we need to start doing differently . Well, with all drew respect to the good general, if there were 25, 30 employees in your studio right now and i brought in some tabs of suboxone and said try these, everybody would be high. Everybody in your studio would be high. The way were going is not working and i understand why everybody wants to protect big pharma and we need these in place. No one is saying for a minute that we dont need these in place when were initially detoxing. But i hear nobody talking about abstinence. I hear nobody i dont even hear that as an alternative to everything is big pharma. We need this. So when i got straight, you know, it wasnt as today and you have all of these groups popping up, counselors, coaches, and you go to them and poor, young addicts say im sick and they say what can we do to make it easy for you. In my day it was like, hey, you sit down in that meeting and you shut up and you listen and you get up in the morning and you learn a schedule, you want to go to school, you go to school. Workout, youll feel better. Get spiritual. I dont see that. I see everything the entire war and again, with all due respect to the general that is about medication. And were not going to win that way. We will not win the war against opioid addiction by giving out opioids. I mean, id ask the audience this. Would you give an alcoholic two shots a day just to keep them no. Because we dont have and you know, i dont have a turnoff switch. I want to bring in ed markey, one of the Senate Democrats suggesting to invest 45 billion to help the Opioid Epidemic. Senator, i want to ask you about your bill, but there is this push and pull and were just hearing it on our air right now. Lets say you get 45 billion dollars. Whats the most effective way to use it. Some people say thats only a drop in the bucket. Do you feel as though theres been so much attention on this, we have a good handle on what needs to be done and how to do it . I dont think we should assume that the president is going to commit 45 billion. I think its just the opposite. The question were going to ask ourselves at the end of this speech and im looking forward to his speech is whether or not he committed 45 billion. Senator casey of pennsylvania and i have proposed that. But i dont think thats going to be forthcoming because, honestly, a vision without funding is a hallucination. First, you have to know that you have the money for treatment, for beds, to give the people to help which they need. We have millions of people in our country who are in desperate need of help because they are already addicted. We have to give them the help which they need. Thats going to take money. Thats why the dollar amount, which the president mentions, is going to be so critical. As well, we also have to say to doctors, to nurses that you have to have mandatory prescribing education before youre allowed to handle a bottle of opioids to people. Whats the problem as you see it, senator . At this point, its still a doctor and nurse problem across the country. Theres still not mandatory education for prescribing of opioids. We have to hear from the president if hes going to take on the ama, if hes going to take on this entire complex which has allowed for this problem to in fact grow. Otherwise, all were going to have is a bandaid applied where a tourniquet should be applied. People are standing to the president is coming in and i may have to cut you off. But in an ideal world, what is it that you need to hear from the president today . I need to hear from the president that, one, its a National Emergency. I dont think were going to hear those words. Were going to need to hear tens and tens of billions of dollars which are immediately going to be requested from kcongress for appropriation. Im sorry, senator. Melania trump is going to take on this as part of her platform. Lets listen. Thank you all for being here today. It touches my heart to see the many familiar places of people who have been lucky to get to know over the last few months. Thank you for the time and strength it takes for each of you to tell your stories. We are here today because of your courage. The Opioid Epidemic has affected more than 2 million americans nationwide and, sadly, the number continues to rise. We lost more than 175 americans to overdoses every day. And millions more are struggling with addiction. As many of you know, addiction affects children in many different ways. And i have recently taken a larger interest in what i can do to help fight this epidemic. I have been participating in it meetings and listening sessions and i have been visiting with people who have been affected by this disease. I want to take a moment now to tell you what i have learned from the men and women on the front lines of this epidemic. Don holman talked to me about his son garret who took medication for adhd and suffered from depression and anxiety. He explained that social media played a part in his sons erratic moods and behaviors. Garret started to buy synthetic opioids online and selfmedicated for his depression, passing away from an overdose just eight days before his 21st birthday. Don holman taught me that the stigma of drug addiction must be normalized and talking about it is the only way to do that. Coach david mcgee talked about his friend who became addicted after his pain medication was prescribed for a sports injury. His friend died from an overdose and through his tragic loss, coach mcgee taught me how important it is to educate kids, athletes and parents because his friend was not weakminded. In fact, like so many of our kids today, he was competitive and strongwilled. Now in her tenth year of recovery, she helped me learn that drug addiction is in fact a disease but with proper support and medical attention, a person can move on to live a healthy and happy life. We are so proud of you for all that you have overcome, sabra, and pray for you as you continue on this journey. Where are you, sabra . Hello. [ applause ] when i had the honor of visiting lillys place in West Virginia, a Recovery Center for infants born adrikted to drugs, i learned to help babies succeed, we must help their parents succeed by placing a priority of the whole family, lillys place is giving infants the best opportunity to try because the parents have been given the support and tools they need to succeed. I want to thank Rebecca Crowder and the staff at lillys place for their heroic efforts. Thank you. I have learned so much by those brave enough to talk about this epidemic and i know there are so many stories to tell. But what i find the commo