Took the first big step of his presidency in terms of dealing with the crisis. Saying he would declare it an emergency, saying he wanted to dedicate time and resources and money to this crisis. Because we havent seen the actual declaration yet, it is hard to say what this will do. Thingeral, the number one you can say is that this will mean a lot more awareness and attention on the issue. The easiest thing to say, this will put a spotlight on what is going on around the country when it comes to the crisis. From there we are looking at what the laws are that govern Emergency Declarations, to get a clue towards what he might do. Usedneral these things are for Something Like a hurricane or flood or a tangible event that is concrete. Public Health Emergencies are declared when it comes to Communicable Disease like influenza or the h1n1 virus. This is a novel use. We have not seen emergency for a broad used and multifaceted thing like the opioid crisis. Host when will this become official and under what laws would he have to make this declaration or whatever paperwork that would need to be submitted . Guest that is a good question. After the comments last week, we got a short statement from the press secretary saying he to direct the agencies to use all appropriate including emergency authorities. When we might see the declaration is up in the air. We can point to the two laws, that would govern these kinds of declarations. The stafford act that is the most, what you think of when you think of an emergency. Youre thinking of that. Often used in times of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes. The biggest thing that a stafford act declaration does is free up funding. That will be a federal Disaster Relief fund, traditionally used to send extra money to states who might use search and rescue teams or Emergency Medical Care or aid workers to help rebuild homes. Under a stafford act declaration what the president could do, he could free up those funds for states to use to address opioid crisis. There is 1. 5 billion in that fund right now. Weve also seen in times of under Emergency Declarations, Congress Turns and appropriates extra money. Under katrina they appropriated several billion dollars to assist what was already available in that fund. To help folks who are struggling. The same with superstorm sandy. One of the things that it might do is put public pressure on congress to step up and put more funding towards the crisis. There is a second law, governing this, that is the public Health Emergencies act. That one would look to the health and Human Services secretary under President Trump tom price, former congressman from georgia. He would be empowered to make an Emergency Declaration of his own and that would free up more funding a more limited fund. The ploy the Public Health service corps, something advocates are pointing towards. , training,re workers into some of the states that have been hard hit. As well, under the public Health Emergencies act you might see changes related to medicare and medicaid. Tom price has broad jurisdiction there, he could use programs to make bigger changes with restrictions around Addiction Treatment and that sort of thing. Host erin mershon talking about a National Emergency for the opium crisis. If you want to call in in this segment, a special line for those who have been impacted by 2027488003. Sis, you can also call the democratic, republican, and independent line. Talking about the opioid crisis, how have governors used the powers that come with that and is there a roadmap there for the federal government . Guest yes. I think that is one of the roadmaps we are seeing advocates turn to. Looking at the past several years, looking at how they have used the declaration to use efforts to address the crisis. In arizona and maryland for example, Emergency Declarations there have allowed First Responders to share Realtime Data about overdose deaths. Or just overdoses. There is a spike in overdoses in this area, maybe there are opioid there that are laced with fentanyl and more powerful ones. That can aid in the assistance efforts. That can go straight to the source more quickly. Another thing we have seen states do in alaska and florida, the governors there have used the Emergency Declaration to issue something called a aloxone. Order for n is under thee done emergency power, may that available to anyone without a prescription so you can more easily get that important drug into the hands of Law Enforcement and public members who know someone with an addiction who are concerned they might face in overdose. Host for radio listeners, though states that have Emergency Declarations, alaska, arizona, florida, virginia, maryland, and massachusetts. Taking calls this morning, special line for those impacted that line, ron is on from kentucky. A republican. Good morning. Guest hello. Host youre on. Guest yes sir. How are you . What is your question host what is your question . Guest first i have a statement. My eldest son died from heroin overdose in april of 2016. It devastated me. However, i am a chronic pain patient. Thing cannot get the only that has been effectively available for me, which are, opioid pain medications. The doctors are afraid. I feel like i have been caught up in this net here me out please. I have a son that died because of this from heroin. So please listen to me. Ive been caught up in this net because of a previous back pain injury caused by an auto accident. Medicationt get pain that helps me if the pharmaceutical companies are so young people you out there are so smart on this issue, why cant there be developed a pain medication that is good for me . Are you worried that this national Emergency Declaration might further restrict access . Guest yes, indeed, it has. I have seen it firsthand. My son was honest with me. He was a musician. Los angeles,o dont cut me off please. Angeles, hem to los was treated well. When he got out he relapsed and every time he relapsed he was honest with me as a father. Host what was his name . Guest his name was jake. Host thank you for sharing his story with us. Access hon on the access, isn on the there anything within this declaration power that might affect . That that . Guest the Public Health community is very much focused on treating addiction and treating overdoses. If you look to the states that have done this, the powers they are enabling are more focused on addressing the overdose problems than it is on availability to the drugs. Out there are legitimate uses of opioids. In cases where a doctor and patient are both aware of the on, wend what is going see appropriate uses an appropriate prescribing of opioids. I dont think anyone in the Public Health community, and i have not heard anyone in the Trump Administration talking about declaring a war broadly on opioids. Much more this is about looking at overdose numbers. Youre seeing tens of thousands of deaths every year and estimates say that is climbing when it comes to overdoses in particular. As we understand the Emergency Declarations in the state it has been about expanding the overdose antidote i was mentioning, naloxone. That publicto Say Health Officials dont want to see more focus on the addiction side as well, there is wrought interest in opening up pathways to get people into medication assisted treatment which is the Gold Standard for addiction management and treatment. In general i do not think people are trying to take away opioids. I think the caller made a good point though. Is in new orleans, line for democrats. Guest good morning. I want an honest answer from your guest there. , when crack and heroin and all of the other were, are still in the black community, there was not this uproar. Calling it an illness and these people needing help black folks were called drug addicts and put in jail for years and years without receiving any help. Now that White America is experiencing this scourge, now everything is in an uproar. People are addicted because they started off with painkillers and so on and so forth. No. They are addicted to heroin. Just like black folks were. , you all are only concerned because it is hitting White America. In affluent neighborhoods and in rural neighborhoods. We have been dealing with this for years. We have talked about the racial element of this epidemic before. Your take on that . Guest it is an important point. There is a different level of awareness here. At theu look administrative response, it still remains to be seen, whether the response will be different from responses we have seen in the past two drug crises and other communities. It is a little bit too soon to how andee how exactly whether the Trump Administration will address this differently. That is a big question about how this spotlight we are shining, with an Emergency Declaration, will differ from past spotlights that have or havent been shown on crisis in this country. For those whoine have been impacted by opioids, good morning. Guest thank you for taking my call caller thank you for taking my call. I work as a nurse in the intensive care unit and i have a lot of patience to come in with areas addictions. Two comments i agree with the collar that just called in. The caller that just called in. I dont think it is fair to separate one drug from another when it comes to overdose. Why it isderstand only a crisis for opioids and not anyone that has addiction issues and getting them access to treatment that they need and making it aware across the board. Additionally, the focus on more on the overdose and not prescribing i think that is shortsighted in a way because our Health Care System works there is a big vocus on Patient Satisfaction and making sure pain is under control. All of that high doses of the opioid starting from the hospital setting, throughout discharge, is the course that often leads to people being addicted. If you dont address it up front i think it will be an ongoing problem. Guest i think that is an important point. Two important points. When it comes to the Public Health community thinking about this, i do think they are thinking about this more broadly than we have seen. Maybe the initial efforts we have seen from states how they said it has remained to be seen, how the Trump Administration will follow down the path. When you talk to advocates on the ground or physicians and nurses and other clinicians like yourself, they are very much thinking about this as holistically as they possibly can. Im not saying we know the response will be focused only on the overdose side of things, i think there are absolutely calls in the Public Health community and the commission that President Trump impaneled to look at this issue which is chaired by Chris Christie, i mean a dish addiction in all its forms. Encouraging use of medication assisted treatment, and broadening the Treatment Facilities that can handle this and have the capabilities to deal with it. When you talk to people who are dealing with this crisis and advocating for more resources and funding, they are looking at this holistically and want to see the Emergency Declaration used as largely as possible. We dont know what the administration is doing and it is tough to say how it will be applied ultimately. Host you mentioned the Advisory Committee that Chris Christie is leading. What is its role now now that the Emergency Declaration has been issued . Guest the president impaneled this in march through an executive order. Another step he is taken to address the crisis. This report that came out in late july, that called for an Emergency Declaration as the first and most urgent recommendation this commission, is their draft report. This is the first that they took toward putting out recommendations. I think there is another report expected in october. It is important to note that in addition to declaring an emergency in the power they are hoping to empower the administration with under that declaration and not to mention the spotlight we have talked there isan also a long list of other recommendations in that report that they would like to see that that would not need a declaration or something from congress and that runs the gamut from encouraging more medication assisted treatment, better prescribing, something her last caller talked about, working with the Physician Community on best practices. Training Law Enforcement officers on how to use overdose reversal medication. There is a long list of solutions both for the Public Health perspective and the Law Enforcement perspective that folks in the Public Health community and the administration and even in congress are talking about. I dont think there is a onesizefitsall. I dont think the emergency is the end. Athink we are looking what can and cant be done under the declaration. We are waiting for the first that. Host one of those things could be more money, congress could appropriate additional funds. Has anyone studied what it would fighting theost of Opioid Epidemic, what the federal government could spend to finish this fight . Guest i dont have numbers on how much it would cost. The tally towards the toll towards many billions of dollars. Andblican efforts to repeal replace the Affordable Care act, there is concern in the Advocacy Community what taking away Health Insurance would do. Especially in the states that are hardest hit by the crisis. At the time there were two republican senators, rob portman of ohio and also one in West Virginia who were very interested in including 45 billion into the reform effort that republicans were pushing aimed at the opioid crisis. I talk to advocates when that was a big part of the discussion they said it wasnt enough. That wont do it. It is hard to say exactly how much it would cost. For the folks fighting this on the ground they want as much as they can get and is quickly as they can get it. Host 10 minutes left with erin mershon. Gabriel is an illinois, democrats line. Guest thank you. Facebooknted to say donated the billion dollars to new york and new Jersey School systems. Someone wrote a book on it nothing got done. Work School System newark School System. It got worse. A lot of people are feeling we will cash in now with the state of emergency. I dont think you can throw money at an issue like this. Personal opinion is that and a lot of other people as medicine isnt what is going to keep you healthy. This is tied to like, pharmaceutical companies, doctors, medical doctors, these are highly educated people. That are completely sold on their system. Their belief that drugs are the quick fix that will get us rich and keep us healthy. There are two sides to every stick. Modern medicine is great, pharmaceutical stuff is awesome for a lot of acute stuff. In and thinkto go about acupuncture, yoga, all of those kinds of strange things. People say that is in science or whatever but there is actual science that is there that people dont consider. Guest i think that is an excellent point. Certainly im hearing from Public HealthCommunity People to physicians saying looking to how to a dress chronic pain. That is a big question in our society. In the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies stepped up and said they had these opioid painkillers and they were an addictive. They started spreading through our society. There are Addictive Properties to these drugs. People are looking, what are the other solutions to pain . Physical therapy is shown to be effective for some, acupuncture and yoga are options that people turn to. It is different for every person. I think the struggle we are facing now, think about physical therapy it will be one person in a room with a clinician who can help them through. That is hard to scale. So many people have chronic pain in this country. You need a lot of physical therapists working on this issue. At the same time, pills are easier. That is what may be got us into this mess. Host don is on the line in michigan from those who have been impacted by Opioid Epidemics. Guest you have this all wrong. You are blaming drugs. Why are all these young kids doing this why are you calling it an Opioid Epidemic when it is a heroin epidemic . What is a 16yearold kid pick up these drugs . Host why do you think . Caller it is a social thing. These kids dont know what theyre doing, they are trying to go to college. It is hard for everyone. Lynn is in columbus, ohio also on the line for those who have been impacted by opioid. Republican. Caller hello. A couple of points. Ive chronic pain. It took me three years to get enough medication the doctors were afraid. I had verifiable chronic pain. They are throwing opioids in with heroin and they are different things. The Insurance Companies wont pay for acupuncture. No one is looking at why the heroin process is happening. The Mental Illness behind it. The treatment that is needed. If you could separate them out and give acupuncture to those in pain and give Mental Health addicts, you those will find that the problem will go down sufficiently. It is anthink interesting point and i think an important one in the context of this Emergency Declaration because i think some of the issues you are raising, Insurance Companies not paying for this, for some of these alternative treatments or that the focus that people arent studying what they need to be studying, better Pain Management techniques, better addiction therapies, there are a lot of folks hoping that the spotlight we would get from this declaration would go a long way towards encouraging new research initiatives. New companies, looking at what insurance do and dont cover. That is a hope. Awarenessesources and among Public Health advocates. What thisnow Emergency Declaration will do but the one thing we can point to is the spotlight on the awareness. Part of that is aimed at in courage and studies you are talking about. Host time for a few nor calls a few more calls. Line for democrats. Caller one thing i have noticed , is when it is affecting men, it is fluffed to the side, it is just the men that are homeless. We dont gear up any social programs. Rethinking we need a better startingall, anything to affect anyone, we need to get on it statebystate. Quicker. And start treating it like it is something serious, like our veterans, and different ones like this. Look at theerall and our medical people and the doctors and stuff and have a good review yearly of everything. And put it out there and not side shuffle it. In the rural areas to, get medicine and more expertise to the smaller towns. Host got your point. Thet mark, youre raising points people are hoping this Emergency Declaration achieves and that is putting another spotlight on this. Bringing more awareness and attention and more funding into some of the areas that are hardest hit. You talk to the folks on the ground here and no one thinks this crisis is over. Maybe we are not even close to finding a solution. One analysis we have done it stat shows there might be as many as 500,000 or more deaths in the next 10 years because of this crisis. The hope is that among Public Health folks that the Emergency Declaration can start to spur changes that people have talked about an identified. And are now working to implement across the country. Host you can find stat news at statnews. Com. Erin, thank you for your time. Up next talking well be right back