Kellyanne Conway to lead administration's fight against opioid abuse
Kellyanne Conway/Gage Skidmore (Wikipedia)
Kellyanne Conway will oversee the administration’s response to the opioid crisis, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Wednesday.
Conway, an adviser to President Donald Trump, is essentially an opioid czar, New York Magazine reports. BuzzFeed News and the Washington Post covered Sessions’ announcement.
“The president has made this a White House priority,” Sessions said. “He’s asked her to coordinate and lead the effort from the White House.”
According to BuzzFeed, Sessions emphasized Conway’s public relations skills at the news conference, “perhaps signaling an administration push for public service announcements aimed at changing public attitudes toward opioid addiction.”
To combat opioid abuse, the Drug Enforcement Administration will establish a new division for drug enforcement efforts in Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee to be based in Louisville. In addition, the government will fund anti-heroin task forces with $12 million in grants.
At the news conference, Sessions indicated he was “dubious” about a law passed last year that reduced DEA powers in the opioid fight. The law virtually eliminated DEA authority to use immediate suspension orders to freeze questionable shipments of pain pills, according to the Washington Post.
The law also weakened DEA orders to show cause that are used when companies are accused of failing to report suspicious narcotics orders. As a result of the law, companies can submit corrective action plans before sanctions are imposed.
Sessions said he would support a new law “to make sure we’re fully able to carry out effective enforcement policies.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had led the presidential commission that made 56 recommendations on combating drug addiction. At a congressional hearing Tuesday in Baltimore, he said the push for an opioid drug czar was overblown, according to Buzz Feed coverage.
To fight opioid abuse, Christie said, the government needs to limit overprescriptions of painkillers, cut fentanyl exports from China, and make available the overdose remedy naloxone.
