Sessions: War on Opioids Is ‘Winnable’
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Trump on Thursday directed the
Trump's declaration nonetheless gives states more flexibility to use federal funds, although it will not provide funds specifically for the opioid crisis.
President
The
'Make a difference'
Sessions, speaking to law enforcement officials at
"In confronting the worst drug crisis in our history, we need to use every lawful tool we have," Sessions said. "But if we do, there is hope. I agree with the president - I'm convinced that this is a winnable war."
In August, the
Sessions said the program had begun to produce results.
On Thursday, he announced the first case brought by the program, a 14-count indictment of a
On Wednesday, the
The doctor admitted prescribing a highly addictive version of the synthetic opioid drug fentanyl in exchange for
The company's founder and majority owner,
'Overprescribing' blamed
"Overprescribing is largely how we got into this crisis," Sessions said. But he added that the proliferation of illegal fentanyl, which is 50 times as potent as heroin, had made the epidemic "much deadlier."
FILE - A pharmacy technician sorts hydrocodone and acetaminophen tablets, also known as Vicodin, at the
Last year, more than 20,000 people died of overdoses involving fentanyl, according to the
Fentanyl is available as a Schedule II prescription drug in
In recent years,
In July, authorities shut down the largest illegal drug marketplace operating on the so-called dark web. The site, AlphaBay, had more than 200,000 drug listings, including fentanyl.
Law enforcement officials vowed to continue to go after illegal fentanyl suppliers.
"As a first step in response to the president's announcement, the Cyber Crimes Center ... will serve as ground zero in our efforts to attack the fentanyl issue where it originates - the dark web," said
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