Imagine sitting on a president appointed commission, just to waste your time. That's basically what Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy, member of the bipartisan opioid commission, is feeling now.
Ninety days ago, President Trump declared a 90 day public health emergency concerning the opioid crisis, set to end today.
However, no funding ever backed the health emergency and the death toll from overdosing keeps rising!
With the shutdown going on, the health emergency was extended another 90 days. Thank goodness for government shut downs!?
A grieved Patrick Kennedy had some comments to add in a phone interview.
"The emergency declaration has accomplished little because there's no funding behind it. You can't expect to stem the tide of a public health crisis that is claiming over 64,000 lives per year without putting your money where your mouth is."
Before the commission disbanded in December 2017, they offered 56 recommendations to fix the crisis that have essentially sat on paper waiting to go into effect.
"Forget the crumbling infrastructure," Kennedy admits , "we're losing this country from the inside out."
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