White House Wants to Stop Drug Crimes
You might have heard about this by now, but in case you have not, there has been an unusual rise in fatal heroin incidents throughout the nation. And this is not going to pass by like it is not important. As of Monday, the White House is going to team up health workers and enforcement officials in an attempt to cure rather than prosecute addicts.
The official information is that the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is going to create and fund this project with $2.5 million and will cover a starting number of 15 states. The plan is simple, but it is going to take some time to carry out: track down the sources of heroin to the dealers and then to the people who are providing the dealers with the drugs.
Official declarations have indicated that the recent up rise in heroin use and deaths is not something that the White House is going to ignore and that this program is a reaction to these cases. The majority of them have been reported in a number of Northeastern states, New England among them, and these states are also being taken care of as part of the initiative.
The “death by heroin” cases have risen drastically over the past 13 years. The number of incidents was four times higher in 2013 than it was back in 2002. U.S. health officials blame the lower costs and increased abuse of painkillers, stating that these are the major sources that have led to this drastic increase.
So what will the White House’s program do exactly? First of all, it will organize 15 health policy analysts and 15 drug intelligence officers that will scout and identify information about overdoses and how drugs are distributed in the affected areas. Secondly, the plan involves the training of first responders on how to use counter-overdose medication.
The White House has declared that it is very aware of the situation and how it needs to be dealt with. A senior official declared that the approach “needs to be broad and inclusive” involving law enforcement, public health and public safety representatives.
There has also been a discussion about how crimes occur, people die and law enforcement and public health follow different procedures which usually means that they have to walk different paths. This initiative is meant to bring both of them on the same track, with a clearer goal.
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