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Cuomo trumps Trump on opioid funding

Oct 28, 2017 12:20 am
Julie Hirschfeld Davis reports in The New York Times that on Oct. 25 President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a limited 90-day public health emergency rather than a national emergency. It is a key difference, as declaring a national emergency would have freed millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to address the problem. Trump's designation allows money from the Public Health Emergency Fund to be used, but that fund only contains $57,000. The next day, Oct. 26, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the availability of up to $10 million in capital funding to develop and support up to 75 new, community-based medically supervised withdrawal and stabilization beds throughout the state. "These expanded detox services will help put more people dealing with opioid addiction onto the road to recovery while helping to create a stronger, healthier New York for all," Cuomo said.