At a City Club of Cleveland speech Monday, Sen. Sherrod Brown called for a major public health campaign to combat opioid addiction. The Ohio Democrat pointed to anti-smoking programs as a model.
Brown said that, much like the campaign against tobacco, it could take years of sustained effort to beat opioid use.
“The epidemic of this magnitude demands a full-scale public health campaign to match it," Brown says. "It must consist of three parts: 1) Education and prevention. 2) Treatment 3) Recovery.”
President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency in October. That didn’t produce any new spending by the government but did direct already budgeted money toward the issue.
Brown, like Trump, called for an ad campaign to prevent young people from taking up the drug. He also said pharmaceutical companies should be held accountable for fueling the problem and more research in non-addictive pain treatment options.
