I think that's at a minimum. Honestly, when we were fighting the AIDS epidemic, which was claiming 53,000 lives, this is claiming 64,000 lives, we were spending the equivalent of $24 billion with today's dollars.
Kennedy emphasizes the need for significant federal funding to combat the opioid crisis.
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More from Patrick J. Kennedy
I think, obviously, when you look at the fact that so many of our jails are filled with people with mental illnesses and addictions, that clearly a better response than occupying police time would be to make sure that proper first…
We have really just talked the talk, we have never walked the walk on including mental health and addiction treatment.
If this were any other issue we would move heaven and Earth to deal with it. In COVID we responded right away, everybody inoculation, everybody out there. The longest impact of COVID is going to be mental health, and yet, we don't treat it.
this needs to be a priority. And it will be an enormous protective factor for kids, especially since we are seeing suicide rates skyrocket.