Tevi Troy explains in an Observer column how President Trump could look to history to guide his approach toward public health problems associated with opioid abuse.
The Trump administration has created a commission, led by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, to address the opioid crisis, which killed over 30,000 Americans in 2015. In crafting its recommendations, the commission should look to lessons from previous presidents. During the 20th century, three presidents faced major public-health crises: Franklin Roosevelt and polio, John F. Kennedy and smoking, and Ronald Reagan and HIV/AIDS. …
… It is important to recognize expectations placed upon government have increased. To be sure, Roosevelt advocated for polio research, but instead of mobilizing an entire government, he promoted donations for research. With respect to smoking, Kennedy’s administration got involved slowly at first but led the way for future government-wide efforts. With AIDS, Reagan’s critics denounced him for his apparent indifference, but he and top aides spoke out on the issue and his administration allocated significant amounts of money toward combating the disease.
Another lesson is how public-health issues have become politicized over time. If FDR were alive today, polio advocates would likely criticize him for devoting insufficient government resources to the disease and for failing to highlight his own paralysis. Today, everything can and will be viewed through a political lens.
A workable approach to a public health crisis such as opioids calls for an appropriate level of presidential rhetoric and action in the form of government resources and activity. A president’s personal commitment to an issue is important in that it ensures that the issue will be prioritized throughout the bureaucracy. Finally, presidential leadership is important, but governmental response should be set up to continue beyond one administration. Government messaging can have a big impact on behavior, but it must be sustained over the long term.
