Executive Order 13784:Opioid Crisis

What the Executive Order Says

Executive Order (EO) 13784 is entitled "Establishing the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis."  This EO was originally issued on March 29th, 2017 and it has 9 sections.

Section 1

This section defines the policy as combating drug abuse, including opioid abuse.  There is a mention of 50,000 deaths due to this "public health crisis".  It is unclear whether this means drug abuse in general or just opioids.  On the commission website, it mentions 33,000 deaths due to opioid overdoses.

Section 2

This section establishes a commission.  The commission is chaired by Chris Christie and will closely coordinate with Jared Kushner according to the website.  The website has a statement to "check back soon for updates regarding the Commission and its upcoming meetings."  There is also available a commission charter document.  This document was created April 24, 2017 and is quite vague although its unclear whether that is by design or because no work is being done.

Section 3

This section makes vague statements as to the membership of the commission.  In a May 10, 2017 press release the intent to appoint individuals to the commission was announced.

Section 4

This section defines the mission of the commission.  There are 6 subsections.  In summary the mission ends up being to summarize where we are and recommend where we should go from here.

Section 5

This section defines that the commission should work under the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).  The commission members will not be paid other than travel expenses.

Section 6

This section defines that spending by the commission will come out of the ONDCP budget.  I have not read the recently released President's proposed budget to see if ONDCP is up or down next year.

Section 7

This section defines the requirements for reports.  First, within 90 days an interim report is to be issued and by Oct 1, a final report is to be issued.  The 90 day deadline is coming up fast.

Section 8

This section provides a sunset clause for the commission such that it is dissolved automatically 30 days after submittal of the final report.

Section 9

This section includes the necessary legal fine print to ensure the constitutionality of the EO.

My commentary

The drug abuse problem is a real tragedy.  It is disgraceful that so many people ended up being addicted to pain pills and from there moved onto other drugs while making large profits for drug manufacturers and other entities in the health care sector.
It appears that the proposed members of the commission are relatively serious people.  I imagine that the commission will not come back with a recommendation to build a wall along the Mexican border as has been proposed during the presidential campaign.
While Opioids, especially synthetic variants, are relatively new, I don't see that there is anything that fundamentally changes what we have been doing for the last 30-40 years (or longer) with regards to fighting drug addiction.  There is both a demand and a supply side.  On the demand side is education, treatment and just getting people not to use drugs.  On the supply side is cracking down on the manufacture and distribution of drugs.  Actions taken on either side have unintended consequences on the other side.  The problem is complex and often drug addition is just a symptom of other underlying problems such as physical/sexual abuse or undiagnosed mental illness.  Also, there are proponents of legalization vs. prohibition to consider along the lines of when alcohol was prohibited for that short time in American history.  There will not be a magic bullet and therefore the solutions are difficult to craft, effectiveness will be difficult to measure and all of this will leave an impression in the general public of civil servants arguing over minutiae that really does not matter.
It is disappointing that this problem and the commission are not getting the attention, budget and urgency of what is probably one of the most significant social problems facing the USA.  I am still hopeful that some good will come out of the commission, but it could certainly also result in nothing.