Obama sounds alarm on opioid addiction

ATLANTA - With a nod to his own drug use as a young man, President Barack Obama called Tuesday for more funding and a new approach to help people addicted to heroin and prescription drugs, seeking to shine a public spotlight on an increasingly deadly killer.

During an appearance at a drug abuse summit in Atlanta, Obama said opioid overdoses killed more people in the United States than traffic accidents did, and compared the importance of addressing the issue with that of fighting Islamic State militants.

'It's costing lives and it's devastating communities,” Obama said while participating in a panel with addicts in recovery and medical professionals. He said efforts to fight the epidemic were grossly underfunded and earlier asked Congress for $1.1 billion in new funding over two years.

Administration critics, including Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, embraced some of the proposals but said the White House has been too slow in responding to a crisis.

Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Caucus on International Narcotics Control, championed passage in the Senate this month of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. The bill, which has bipartisan support, awaits action in the House.

'I don't disagree with a lot of the policy coming from the president and his administration on anti-opioid abuse,” Grassley said Tuesday in a statement. 'A lot of the same policy direction is reflected in the Senate bill. I disagree with how long it takes the administration to settle and act on solutions.”

The bill would expand the availability of naloxone -  which can counter the effects of a heroin or opioid overdose  -  to first responders. It would improve prescription drug monitoring programs and shift resources toward treating prisoners suffering from addiction, among other things.

Opioid addiction has become an issue in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Obama wrote about using marijuana and cocaine in his book 'Dreams from my Father.” He said Tuesday he was lucky addiction had not overcome him earlier in life beyond his use of cigarettes.

'For too long we have viewed the problem of drug abuse generally in our society through the lens of the criminal justice system,” he said. He pressed for it to be seen as a medical issue.

In 2014, a record number of Americans died from drug overdoses, with the highest rates seen in West Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Ohio. In Iowa, the state Department of Public Health said that in that period, 19 people died of heroin and 33 died of some other opioid overdose.

Obama said he needs Congress to open the purse strings to help expand treatment, particularly in rural areas, and applauded the bipartisan legislation designed to combat the problem.

Meanwhile, his administration announced it is accepting applications for $11 million in grants for up to 11 states to expand medication-assisted treatment, and another $11 million for states to buy and distribute naloxone.

The Health and Human Services Department is also proposing a new rule for buprenorphine, a medication used to help addicted people reduce or quit their use of heroin or painkillers.

The rule would allow physicians who are qualified to prescribe the medication to double their patient limit to 200. The White House said that measure would expand treatment for tens of thousands of people.

Better late than never, Grassley contended.

'Better access to buprenorphine is something that could have happened a long time ago,” he said. 'The administration also canceled a drug take-back program that it's now celebrating as a remedy. We need more leadership and faster action when people are struggling with life and death concerns. In the time something takes to make its way through the federal bureaucracy, many more people could have been helped.”

Reuters contributed to this report.