Donald Trump has labeled the opioid crisis a public health emergency, but if you think that means he’s putting top public health experts on the case, you’d better sit down: Kellyanne Conway is running the show, having convened an “opioids cabinet.”
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has taken control of the opioids agenda, quietly freezing out drug policy professionals and relying instead on political staff to address a lethal crisis claiming about 175 lives a day. The main response so far has been to call for a border wall and to promise a "just say no” campaign. [...]
"It’s fair to say the ONDCP has pretty much been systematically excluded from key decisions about opioids and the strategy moving forward,” said a former Trump administration staffer, using shorthand for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which has steered federal drug policy since the Reagan years.
In fact, Trump is about to make his second attempt at slashing the ONDCP's budget. Because who needs drug control experts when you have a drug epidemic? But while Conway is steaming ahead planning that “just say no” campaign with political staffers, it’s not clear what else she’s doing:
“I haven’t talked to Kellyanne at all and I’m from the worst state for this,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia, which has the country’s highest overdose death rate. “I’m uncertain of her role.” The office of Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio,) another leader on opioid policy, echoed that – although Portman’s wife, Jane, and Conway were both at the event with Melania Trump this week.
Not that either Capito or Portman will push the White House on anything in any serious way.
Ultimately, “Kellyanne Conway is running the White House opioid response” is really all you need to know to know how seriously they’re combating this crisis.