national emergency which would make new funding available. during the announcement, mr. trump talked about how addiction hit home for him through his late brother fred. i learned myself, i had a brother fred, great guy, best looking guy, best personality, much better than mine, but he had a problem. he had a problem with alcohol. and he would tell me don t drink. don t drink. he was substantially older and i listened to him and i respected, but he would constantly tell me, don t drink. he would also add, don t smoke. but he would say it over over and over and over again. and to this day, i ve never had a drink. u.s. president donald trump there. opioid addictions can be found in any city or town, but now we want to show you how the opioid epidemic is unfolding near the city of boston.
really helping as much. i m still in a lot of pain. okay, we ll add this to it, this pill, this patch. reporter: lisa, patricia s younger sister, also had obd nall pa abdominal pain. she had five operations including a hysterectomy and, yes, she had lots and lots of narcotics. i was torn between not being able to care for my family, or, okay, i can take care of them, if i take some more pills. reporter: within months, two sisters, lisa and patricia, were both addicted to opioid painkillers. but things would soon turn more desperate for patricia. every time they give me more, my body would get immune to it. if i didn t have it, i get sick, sick. real sick. reporter: what did you do? there was a guy i worked with, his wife had dilautid, she didn t like them, he would sell me what she had, so if i ran out, i still had some.
swaying plesway ing american elections. american citizens are pretsavvy then they decide who to vote for i think their thougaeir they rel in the way they make their decisions. president trump issued a crisis on the opioid epidemic. issued a public health emergency. also went off script to tell the story of his brother who died of alcoholism. i learned myself, i had a brother fred, great guy. best looking guy. best personality. much better than mine, but he had a problem. he had a problem with alcohol. and he would tell me, don t drink. he was a strong guy. it was a tough, tough thing that he was going through, but i learned because of fred, i
i had a brother fred. great guy. best-looking guy. best personality, much better than mine. but he had a problem. he had a problem with alcohol. and he would tell me, don t drink. he was a strong guy, but it was a tough, tough thing that he was going through. but i learned because of fred, i learned. that was the president speaking personally about his experience with addiction yesterday after declaring that public health emergency to combat the opioid crisis, drawing both praise and, frankly, concern from health advocates. many believe the move is a step in the right direction, but there are concerns the declaration could fall short. nbc s kate snow has more. we re the experts. we re the ones than. reporter: at the weekly family of addicts meeting in dayton, ohio, they re encouraged the white house is taking notice but not sure the leaders really get it. half the people think
i ve talked to senators in both parties who privately say they think they need another 6 billion or so to deal with what clearly is an epidemic. i think the president s point was let s get a better idea of the scope of the problem. get the federal government more focused. maybe they can put the money in the budget at the end of the year. the notable part was the president did something today he doesn t do very often. he got personal and talked about his older brother fred who had died in part because of a battle with alcoholism. and the president talked about struggles with addiction and it really has stuck with him throughout his life. anybody that knows the president knows in private he never touches alcohol. it s something that stuck with him because of that addiction problem that his older brother had. i think when he spoke that personally about it, it s something that may have broken through today. this is something that is raf advantaging the country right now. harris: and we k