The Opioid Epidemic has become the largest drug crisis in the history of the United States, killing about 90 Americans every day. Because of this, President Donald J. Trump has declared it a "National Public Health Emergency." With more and more people dying of drug overdose every day, many are praising Trump for his actions. However, during one of his segments on the Daily Show, host Trevor Noah took a closer look at Trump's handling of the crisis. It seems that all is not what it seems to be.
First, what is the opioid crisis?
Back in the 1990's, Pharmaceutical companies assured the medical community that prescription opioid pain relievers were non-addictive.
This then led to healthcare providers handing out more and more prescriptions through the years. Of course, this then led to widespread diversion and misuse of these medications, and it became clear that opioids are in fact addictive.
33,000 Americans died of opioid overdose, including prescription opioids, in 2015. The following year, another 59,000 Americans died. Roughly 90 people die of overdose from opioids in America every day, which is equivalent to the number of people who also die from car crashes.
DEA crippled because of pharmaceuticals
During the latest episode of "The Daily Show" with Trevor Noah, the host dedicated a segment into looking at the opioid emergency. He discussed one particular case in Kermit, West Virginia, where one pharmacy ordered 9 million pills.
Noah pointed out that the town had just roughly 400 residents at that time, so the 9 million pills were very questionable indeed.
But why doesn't the DEA just go after these pill distributors and shut them down? As Noah explains in his segment, this is because Congress passed a law last year which greatly cuts the DEA's power to go after these distributors.
He then pointed out that they passed this law all because of something that they are addicted to, and that is money. Pharmaceutical companies have lobbied close to 250 million dollars just last year, much more than the Gun Rights lobby's 10.5 million dollars last year. They gave so much money for their lobby that Noah said: "They got to write the law that crippled the DEA."
Trevor Noah gives Trump some credit
And then, Noah turned his attention to Trump himself, who declared it to officially be a National Public Health Emergency.
The president has promised to give "a lot of time, a lot of effort, and a lot of money" to deal with this crisis. Because of this, Noah said that Trump putting his attention to such an emergency is a "big step." And when Trump signed the necessary paperwork for the government to combat this crisis, Noah gave him some praise and asked the crowd to actually cheer for Trump.
However, in typical Trevor Noah fashion, he revealed that what the president did isn't actually a real thing. First, he differentiated National Emergencies from Public Health Emergencies. For National Emergencies, he pointed out that the government would have billions of dollars in funding to fight the epidemic, but for Public Health Emergencies, which is the one Trump actually signed, the government would only get about US$57,000 in funding.
He noted the subtle differences in the wordings made Trump's declaration of a National Health Emergency sound like the government will, in fact, be spending much money to deal with it. The host then likened it to going to rehab, as he joked that "If you want to go to rehab, who would you like funding it? The CEO of Verizon, or Craig who works at Verizon?"
Noah then admitted that Trump's actions made him disappointed. "What he delivered was very far from the promise," said Noah, and added that "It's vaguely similar, but it's not the same thing." He likened Trump's handling of the opioid crisis to Trump building his "Border Wall... greens," which is "paid for by Mexico...'s neighbor, America." He finally ended the segment with a video of Trump making kids promise not to do drugs... but not alcohol. He then called Trump the "best American Trump president ever."
