Obama Will Ask for $1.1 Billion to Cut Heroin Deaths in U.S.
- CDC says at least 28,648 people died from opioid abuse in 2014
- Epidemic is a campaign issue in hard-hit New Hampshire
President Barack Obama speaks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Nov. 6, 2015.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
President Barack Obama will ask Congress for $1.1 billion in his next budget to combat the U.S. opioid abuse epidemic, a crisis so severe that it’s emerged as a 2016 campaign issue and has led two senators to block his nominee to run the Food and Drug Administration.
At least 28,648 people in the U.S. died of causes linked to opioid drugs in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control, almost as many as are killed annually in car crashes. The class of drugs includes heroin and some prescription painkillers such as oxycodone.