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According to Alaska Public Media, two members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee sent a letter to the White House this week asking President Trump to follow through on his promises to treat the opioid epidemic as a national emergency. The four-page letter, penned by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski, urges that “federal, state, and local governments must act boldly to combat this growing crisis.”
In the letter, the Senators report that an estimated 2.6 million Americans are currently addicted to opioids, and an average of 91 people die from opioid overdoses every single day. The letter also cites “a 2016 report by the Surgeon General [that] found that only one in ten people in need of specialty addiction treatment are actually able receive it.” Six states, including Alaska and Massachusetts, have individually declared health emergencies due to these alarming conditions.
Murkowski and Warren noted that President Trump told the media that he would declare a national emergency to combat this health crisis, but has failed to do so. “The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I’m saying officially…
