Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week, 2020

Proclamation 10074 of September 11, 2020

Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness
Week, 2020

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

During Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic
Awareness Week, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment
to ending the opioid crisis in our country, and we
pledge to help our friends, family, and colleagues with
addiction as they work toward a drug-free life.
Addiction undercuts human personal potential, damages
families, and disrupts relationships. This month, and
every month, we must continue to raise awareness about
the dangers of opioid misuse and resolve to build a
healthier and happier Nation.

Since my first day in office, my Administration has
taken aggressive action to confront and dismantle the
driving forces behind the opioid crisis. In October
2017, we declared the opioid crisis a public health
emergency, and in 2018, we secured $6 billion in new
funding to fight the opioid crisis. Most recently, I
signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic
Security (CARES) Act, which strengthened these efforts
by providing millions of dollars in emergency grant
funding to healthcare providers treating those with
substance use disorders. Additionally, to ensure that
access to addiction support services remains
uninterrupted, I eased the regulatory burdens on the
Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of
Health and Human Services, which are now ensuring
greater access to treatment by expanding telehealth
options.

To fight over prescribing, a significant contributor to
the widespread opioid addiction, my Administration
launched the Safer Prescribing Plan in 2018, which
built on our early progress and set an ambitious goal
of cutting opioid prescription fills by one-third
within 3 years. This initiative is a major reason why
the total amount of opioid prescriptions filled in
America has dropped by 31 percent since I took office.
We have also developed partnerships between the Office
of National Drug Control Policy, the Truth Initiative,
and the Ad Council to educate young adults about the
dangers of misusing opioids. These efforts are
preventing Americans from falling victim to the potent
and dangerous grip of opioid addiction.

My Administration is also taking decisive action to
keep dangerous drugs out of our country. Synthetic
opioids are extremely deadly and generally originate
outside of the United States. Our Nation's law
enforcement officers are working night and day to keep
this poison from crossing our borders. In 2018 alone,
they seized almost 5,000 pounds of fentanyl at our
border--enough to kill 1.2 billion individuals, the
equivalent of every American four times over. Although
we have made great progress through these actions, my
Administration remains as committed as ever to using
the power of Federal law and the expertise of our
Nation's dedicated law enforcement officials to prevent
the illegal importation and distribution of opioids,
which could otherwise devastate countless American
families.

To help those already struggling with addiction, my
Administration is working to champion evidence-based
treatments and provide recovery support resources. In
2018, I signed the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention
that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT)
for Patients and Communities Act, which uses a whole-
of-government approach to better monitor

prescribing, improve treatment, prevent addiction, and
curb the use of illegal drugs. We have also awarded
nearly $50 million in planning grants to 15 States to
increase the capacity of Medicaid providers to deliver
substance use disorder treatment and recovery services.
And beginning in January of this year, Medicare began
covering services for its beneficiaries at opioid
treatment programs. Together, these efforts will help
expand treatment access and provide crucial support to
those who need it.

This Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness
Week, we redouble our efforts to defeat our Nation's
opioid crisis. We can never forget the hundreds of
thousands of lives lost, nor the families forever
altered due to this scourge. We will always support
those around us who are suffering from addiction,
encourage those struggling in private to reach out for
help, and celebrate those who have found a pathway from
addiction to recovery. Together, we will continue to
build awareness and work toward a healthier, safer
society where every community, family, and individual
can flourish.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim September 13 through
September 19, 2020, as Prescription Opioid and Heroin
Epidemic Awareness Week. I call upon my fellow
Americans to observe this week with activities of
awareness and remembrance of the lives lost and
commitments to continue the fight.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.