The DNC released the following statement in response to news that Trump is seeking a 95 percent funding cut to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the lead agency in charge of combating the opioid crisis:

“This is a cruel betrayal by Trump. Throughout the campaign, Trump promised communities ravaged by opioid addiction that he would come to their aid. That was a lie. Not only does Trump’s health bill jeopardize services for people in need of opioid treatment and once again allow companies to deny care by labeling addiction as a pre-existing condition, today he announced that he wants to cut nearly 95% of the funds for the main office in charge of fighting the opioid epidemic.

“There are only two reasons why Trump would break this promise: to protect pharmaceutical industry profits or to free up money in the budget to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-rich. So much for ‘draining the swamp’ or ‘helping the forgotten man’.” – DNC Spokesman Daniel Wessel

“We will help all of those people so seriously addicted. We’ll get them assistance, we’ll make sure that they have the top treatment and get better.”

“We will expand treatment for those who have become so badly addicted.”

“We want to help those who have become so badly addicted.  Drug abuse has become a crippling problem throughout the United States.”

President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget would cut about 95 percent of funding for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, effectively ending its mission as the lead agency in charge of combating the opioid crisis and other drug epidemics…

The office, which received $388 million in federal funding in fiscal 2017, would only receive $24 million in fiscal 2018, according to the White House budget proposal. The agency’s high-intensity drug-trafficking program, which received $254 million in federal funding in 2017, and its drug-free communities support program, which received $100 million, would be completely zeroed out under Trump’s proposal…

Trump has vowed to address the nation's opioid crisis. But defunding the drug control office “is like removing the tip of the spear,” said one source within the agency, noting that ONDCP is the only agency responsible for spearheading the government-wide response to drug use.

###