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Opinion: A former drug czar weighs in: What Trump should have done about the opioid crisis

President Trump's opioid declaration failed to put forth new resources or actions that would make a significant impact on the trajectory of the worst health crisis of our time.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who chairs the president's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, after the president signed a memorandum last week to declare the opioid crisis a national public health emergency.

President Trump may have underscored the gravity of the opioid epidemic by declaring a public health emergency, but he failed to put forth any new resources or actions that would make a significant and immediate impact on the trajectory of the worst health crisis of our time.

Instead of putting the full weight of the federal government behind fighting the crisis, Trump ignored many of the most compelling recommendations from his own . Those of us on the front lines of this scourge — which is already claiming more American lives each year than motor vehicle crashes and gunshot homicides — hoped to see a

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