Possible Emergency Declaration for Opioid Crisis

Yesterday, President Trump stated that he is preparing to declare a national emergency on the opioid crisis.  This was a main recommendation from the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, which released a preliminary report last week.

The President has a few vehicles through which to declare a national emergency, with differentiating functionality. What a deceleration of a national emergency means to the communities hardest hit by this crisis depends largely on which vehicle used making a formal deceleration.  However, there could be additional funding available to bolster prevention programs as well as access to addiction treatment and the opioid overdose antidote naloxone.  A primer on declaring national emergencies can be found here.

NCSD is encouraging its members to better understand and explore how the opioid crisis is impacting STD prevention and control.  Particularly in light of this likely declaration, additional funding to address to impacts of this epidemic may be available.  Please see the question on this topic in the Requests for Information below.