President Trump and HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decided to reduce the financing of drug addiction and research treatment programs, saying that money should rather be spent to “make America again healthy”.
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Public health services and county and non -profit groups are in shock after the Trump administration announced an abrupt cancellation and revocation of approximately $ 11.4 billion in the era financing to lust for discussions related to drug addiction, mental health and other programs.
“It cuts things up in the middle while people do the work,” said Keith Humphreys, a researcher in drug addiction politics at the University of Stanford, who also does volunteers who do harm reduction work with people in drug addiction. He warned this decision could trigger layoffs and disturbances in treatment.
“The services will be abandoned in the middle. Bang, the clinic firm. It is a brutal way to make these cuts,” said Humphreys.
Federal funding for grants was to take place until September 2025. In a statement sent to NPR, a spokesperson for the US Health and Social Services said it was logical to freeze the program immediately.
“The Covide-19 pandemic is over, and the HHS will no longer waste billions of dollars from taxpayers who respond to an nonexistent pandemic that the Americans have moved years ago,” said the press release, adding that the Trump administration will refocus the funding of the epidemic of chronic diseases of America “.
Dufficoses of fentanyl drugs and other substances have decreased sharply in recent years, thanks in part to an increase in the financing of the treatment of drug addiction during the Biden administration. But street drugs kill more than 84,000 people in the United States each year, according to the latest data in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
President Donald Trump made fantlyl smuggling a major concern during the first weeks of his administration, extending an emergency declaration linked to the powerful street opioid.
But his team also quickly reduces the number of federal researchers focused on dependence And Trump forgiven a technological magnate found guilty of having built a “dark web” Platform used for illicit drug trafficking.
The administration of drug and mental health services is also merged into a new organization, called the administration for a healthy America (AHA), as part of a HHS restructuring which should eliminate 20,000 federal employees.
The decision to cancel funds which include disclosure subsidies of drug addiction has aroused criticism from experts who have warned progress reducing overdose could be reversed.
“DOGE is now actively reduced funding aimed at reducing overdose death by scratching Return of States money, “Régina Labelle wrote, an expert in drug policy at the University of Georgetown who served in the Biden Administration In an article on social networks. “Does overdose death exceeds 80,000 per year, does Dogi declare the victory?”
In a statement sent to NPR, a spokesperson for the Ohio Republican Governor Mike Dewine, said they “await the company’s details before commenting” the cuts.
Some Democratic leaders in the United States have condemned this decision.
“By snatching insane, this funding provided by Congress, our state’s ability to protect families from infectious diseases such as measles and bird flu and help people get mental health care and the treatment of substances they need,” said US Senator Patty Murray, a democrat in Washington, in a press release.
She said that the loss of $ 160 million in federal funds designated for use in her state could cost “more than 200 jobs” in public and non -profit health organizations.
New York’s governor Kathy Hochul said her condition would lose around $ 300 million in funding, including a large part of the county health services in rural areas.
“At a time when New York faces an epidemic of ongoing opioids, several confirmed cases of measles and an current mental health crisis, these cuts will be devastating,” said Hochul. “There is no state in this country which has financial resources to fulfill massive federal financing reductions.”
A spokesperson for Colorado’s Behavioral Health Administration said that $ 250 million in federal cups in state would affect up to 60 programs and could put the patient in danger.
“In many cases, these are vital programs and services, and we are concerned about the well-being of those who came to count on this support,” said spokeswoman Allie Eliot, wrote in an email on Colorado public radio.
In their declaration at NPR, HHS officials have minimized the impacts of the cuts and declared that most of the subsidies are canceled by the programs exceeded by the fund linked to the pandemic, including efforts to “approach COVVI-19 health disparities between high-risk populations and poorly served, including racial and ethnic minority populations”.
Tom Wolf, an activist of drug addiction in San Francisco who criticized democratic approaches to combat the overdose crisis, said that he was largely favorable to Trump’s political ideas.
“There are certain aspects of what he does that I think I am good. For me, it’s about getting things done,” said Wolf.
But he also expressed his concerns about the rate of change and the risk that effective treatment of drug addiction can be founded at a time when tens of thousands of people in the United States still die from deadly overdoses each year.
“Do they stop to watch the effectiveness of these programs?” Said Wolf.
The experts in drug addiction have told NPR that they were now preparing that many believe they are deep cuts for the funding of Medicaid, which offers the greatest source of insurance coverage for the treatment of drugs and alcohol on a national level.
“It is very difficult to look at the budgetary framework created by the Republicans and to imagine a scenario other than Medicaid under reduction,” said Keith Humphreys of the University of Stanford. “This is a frightening perspective. It will be extremely painful for families confronted with dependence.”