Trump Signs Law To Unlock Billions For Drug Addiction Recovery

President Donald Trump on Monday signed into law a measure authorising billions of dollars in federal funding to help prevent drug overdoses and aid patients recovering from addiction, according to the White House.

The measure effectively reauthorises a public health program that was first established under Trump in 2018 and expired five years later. Included are a raft of services designed to combat drug addiction and address mental health, as well as initiatives to bolster research and repay loans for professionals treating substance abuse. Funding generally will still be subject to future appropriations by Congress.

The legislation marks the latest effort by Washington to address a public health crisis over drug addiction and overdose deaths, in particular from fentanyl, a powerful painkiller. Trump has seized on the crisis, citing it as justification to slap tariffs on China to curtail flows of fentanyl and precursor chemicals, to bolster border security and to carry out attacks on purported drug-trafficking vessels in the waters around Venezuela.

The US has launched more than two dozen strikes on alleged drug boats and Trump has threatened to expand them to hit targets on Venezuelan land even as his administration faces questions over the legality of the attacks.

The new law also makes changes that would expedite the delivery of some controlled substances — such as when those are self-administered in the presence of doctors. The measure prods federal agencies to set up a special registration process so doctors and other medical practitioners can prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine — something Congress first directed happen in 2008. 

The initiative has drawn bipartisan backing on Capitol Hill and support from health advocates who say it will bolster resources for people in need amid an opioid crisis that contributed to the majority of the fatal drug overdoses in the US last year.