U.S. Rep. Keating: Trump should bring back Obama’s drug czar

Oct. 17--President Trump should bring back the previous head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, after his nominee abruptly withdrew this morning amid controversy over his role in the opioid crisis, Bay State Congressman Bill Keating told Boston Herald Radio.

Trump's pick for drug czar, U.S. Rep. Tom Mariano (R-Penn.), spearheaded a 2016 drug-industry-backed bill that eroded federal drug enforcement agents' ability to staunch the flow of opioids through the country, according to Washington Post and "60 Minutes" reports on Sunday. Marino pulled his name from consideration this morning.

Keating, who worked closely with Obama's drug czar Michael Botticelli in Washington, D.C., and at his previous post in Massachusetts at the state Department of Public Health, said Botticelli's approach was aided by his own experience with addiction.

"Michael was the drug czar until recently, and I realized when administrations change, these jobs change. But Michael went through his own addiction. Michael knows, you know, what it's like to do that," Keating said "Morning Meeting" hosts Hillary Chabot and Jaclyn Cashman. "He's been working for decades in this area and frankly I would have rather seen him stay. He was doing a great job in terms of prevention getting the word out with a great deal of credibility and self."

Botticelli was the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy from March 2014 until Trump took office in January.

The next nominee Trump puts forward for the post, Keating said, needs to understand the opioid crisis is both an enforcement issue and a treatment issue.

"Whoever is chosen for that position has to understand this is not only an issue that enforcement is involved in. This is an issue that's a public health issue and we have to deal on the distribution side," Keating said. "I want to see someone that understands this has to be dealt with as a multifaceted approach."

Keating -- a member of the Congressional Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery Caucus and the bipartisan Heroin Task Force -- said he's introducing Thursday a bill to reverse Marino's bill.

The ability of drug companies to freely ship opioids to doctors and pharmacies "and not have that be able to be enforced is a major problem, and we'll act on it hopefully quickly," said Keating.

"I suspect I'll have other colleagues putting in legislation," he said. "Hopefully we can take some bill that's going through you know in a faster pace and just correct this right away."

Questions surrounding the passage of the 2016 Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act are being investigated in the wake of the report, Keating said -- including why the DEA didn't formally object to the law.

"Many times, you need the agencies that are affected that enforce this to come forward," Keating said. "And one of the things that is being investigated now is why was the DEA not raising this to their attention and why did they indeed, although they showed concerns, give it the ultimate green light in terms of it."

The president praised Marino in announcing his withdrawal this morning.

"Rep.Tom Marino has informed me that he is withdrawing his name from consideration as drug czar," Trump tweeted. "Tom is a fine man and a great Congressman!"

___

(c)2017 the Boston Herald

Visit the Boston Herald at www.bostonherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.