Trump signs executive order to address addiction and substance abuse crisis

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that he dubbed the "Great American Recovery Initiative" aimed at combating drug addiction and substance abuse. "Now we’re taking a bold action to help Americans struggling with all forms of addiction so that they can get the help and the support they need so that they can free themselves from the horrible burden of dependency," Trump said while speaking from the Oval Office.

As detailed, such an initiative instructs federal agencies to use grant funds to support addiction recovery and raise awareness around this problem, which has become one of the most sensitive in the country over the past few years. The effort will also allow agencies to consolidate various programs, including those related to drug use prevention, treatment and recovery support.

The signing of this executive order represents an important moment for Trump considering how his family has been affected by the problem of addiction, an issue the president has been outspoken about. His brother, Fred Trump, died at age 42 of a heart attack related to alcoholism. "Many of those with me today have personally known the heartache of a loved one taken by drug or alcohol addiction. I do," President Trump said.

During his first administration, in 2019, Trump declared his commitment to ending the opioid crisis and spoke about his late brother. "I don’t know that I’d be working, devoting the kind of time and energy and even the money we are allocating to [the effort. I don’t know that I’d be doing that had I not had the experience with Fred," Trump told The Washington Post in an interview in 2019