WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – In a weekly address, Obama said deaths from opioid overdoses have tripled in a decade and a half, and drug overdoses surpass the deaths from car accidents. In February, he proposed allocating $1.1 billion over two years to help Americans with opioid drug addiction to obtain needed help.
"I’ve asked Congress to expand access to recovery services and to give first responders the tools they need to treat overdoses before it’s too late. This week, the House passed several bills about opiates, which is great, but unless they also make investments in more treatment, it won’t get Americans the help they need," he said.
Illicit drug use has been on the rise in the United States, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In 2014, about 1.9 million US citizens suffered from prescription opioid pain medicines abuse, while 586,000 had a heroin use disorder.
