Pause for a brief moment to note some good news for which the Trump administration can, it seems, take some credit.
After nearly three decades of fatal drug overdoses increasing, preliminary numbers show a 5.1% drop nationwide from 2017 to 2018, falling from more than 70,000 deaths to around 68,000. Among states, New York saw the eighth-sharpest decline _ down 9.1%.
Alas, overdoses from fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine continued to rise.
Driving the decrease: Commitment at both the federal and state levels to clamp down on the distribution of prescription painkillers. Long overdue, considering that between 2006 and 2012, a staggering 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pain pills flooded the market, according to a just-revealed DEA database tracking all such pills sold in the country.
Things could quickly go bad again, however. As part of an initial commitment to tackling opioids, the administration and Congress agreed in 2017 to authorize $3.3 billion in treatment grants to states. Those grants expire next year. Indeed, some states have already used their allotment.
Of even greater concern: Much state anti-opioid funding flowed through Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, which the administration is still gleefully seeking to turn to rubble.
Pray the administration builds on lifesaving progress rather than pushing dangerous prescriptions.
