ICYMI: Agenda47: Ending the Scourge of Drug Addiction in America

June 20, 2023

Mar-a-Lago, FL— In a new Agenda47 video, President Trump announced his plan to eradicate the drug addiction crisis in America.

 

“We will not rest until we have ended the drug addiction crisis,” President Trump said. “For three decades before my election, drug overdose deaths increased every single year. Under my leadership, we took the drug and fentanyl crisis head on, and we achieved the first reduction in overdose deaths in more than thirty years.”

 

 

Watch President Trump’s Plan to End the Scourge of Drug Addiction in America

 

President Trump proudly signed the SUPPORT Act—the largest investment EVER in combatting the opioid epidemic.

 

Once President Trump returns to the White House, he will forge new public-private partnerships for companies willing to provide job opportunities and skills training for former addicts and will expand federal support for faith-based counseling, treatment, and recovery programs. 

 

SAVING AMERICAN LIVES: President Trump has pledged that he will not rest until we end this crisis. President Trump will: 

 

- Impose a full naval embargo on the drug cartels and deploy military assets to inflict maximum damage on cartel operations. 

 

- Insist on the full cooperation of neighboring governments to dismantle the trafficking and smuggling networks in our region. 

 

- Ask Congress to ensure that drug dealers and human traffickers receive the death penalty. 

 

- Direct U.S. federal law enforcement to take down the gangs and organized street crime that distribute these deadly narcotics on a local level. 

 

- Permanently designate fentanyl as a federally controlled substance. 

 

- Tell China that if they do not clamp down on the export of fentanyl’s chemical precursors, they will pay a steep price. 

 

- Strengthen the pillars of work, faith, and family which give life meaning and hope for those struggling with addiction. 

 

- Make it easier for those suffering from addiction to seek treatment without losing their jobs.

 

- Forge new public-private partnerships for companies willing to provide job opportunities and skills training to former addicts. 

 

Expand federal support for faith-based counseling, treatment, and recovery programs. 

 

Ensure that if a parent, child, spouse, or relative needs to take time to care for a family member fighting to overcome addiction, they can take advantage of a family leave program. 

 

ADDRESSING THE DRUG OVERDOSE EPIDEMIC: President Trump’s new plan builds on the historic actions he took during his administration to combat the drug addiction crisis in America. 

 

President Trump’s efforts to combat the drug crisis led to the first reduction in drug overdose deaths in 30 years. 

 

Between 2017 and 2019, drug overdose deaths declined by 16.8% in Ohio, 18.7% in Pennsylvania, and 10.6% in West Virginia.  

 

Drug overdose deaths declined by 15% in New Hampshire between 2017 and 2020.

 

Under Biden, overdose deaths in New Hampshire have risen by 12%.  

 

In 2017, President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency and began an all-of-government effort to combat it. 

 

President Trump signed the SUPPORT Act—the largest investment EVER in combatting the opioid epidemic. 

 

By October 2018, President Trump had secured $6 billion to fight the epidemic.

 

The Trump administration awarded state and local communities a record $9 billion in federal grants to increase access to treatment and prevention services.  

 

President Trump provided a fivefold increase in funding to help communities prevent and treat addiction, issuing 8,000 grants to over 1,800 new state and local partners. 

 

President Trump launched the Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand to confront the many causes fueling the drug crisis.

 

The Trump Administration partnered with the Truth Initiative and Ad Council to launch a media campaign to educate Americans about opioid abuse. The campaign reached 58% of young American adults.

 

President Trump negotiated a deal with China to crack down on the production and export of fentanyl’s chemical precursors. 

 

Under Biden, cooperation between China and the U.S. on drug trafficking has nearly come to a halt. 

 

During the Trump administration, the Department of Justice prosecuted more fentanyl traffickers than ever before and dismantled 3,000 drug trafficking organizations.  

 

From 2017 to 2019 the Trump Administration oversaw a 34% decrease in total amount of opioids being prescribed across the country.

 

The DEA’s National Take Back Days recovered a record 4.7 million pounds of unused prescription drugs. 

 

BIDEN’S FAILURE TO STOP THE DRUG ADDICTION CRISIS: Biden’s reckless open-border policy has allowed deadly drugs to pour into our country, making it impossible to properly combat the drug overdose epidemic. 

 

- President Trump’s hard-won progress on the drug overdose crisis has been squandered because Biden surrendered our southern border to the cartels. 

 

- Hundreds of thousands of pounds of deadly drugs are now pouring across Biden’s wide-open border and claiming the lives of over 100,000 Americans every year. 

 

- Over two-thirds of these deaths involve the ultra-lethal fentanyl, which is primarily smuggled into our country through Mexico. 

 

- Biden has terminated nearly every one of Trump’s successful border policies, including the end of catch-and-release, Remain in Mexico, Title 42, and Trump-era asylum cooperation agreements. Under Biden, the construction of the wall was halted and interior enforcement has effectively been abolished. 

 

- The amount of fentanyl seized at the border more than tripled from 2020 to 2022. 

 

- In the first five months of this year alone, border patrol seized enough fentanyl to kill 100 million people. 

 

- Federal agents estimate that they are only able to seize 5 to 10 percent of all drugs being smuggled through the border from Mexico. 

 

- Drug cartels and human smugglers are profiting from Biden’s open border, earning $13 billion in revenue last year—a 2,500% increase compared to 2018. 

 

Fueled in large part by Biden’s border disaster, fentanyl deaths have increased 94% since 2019, and fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45.