FILE – This Feb. 19, 2013, file photo shows OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy, in Montpelier, Vt. Five state attorneys general announced lawsuits Thursday, May 16, 2019, seeking to hold the drug industry responsible for an opioid addiction crisis that has become the biggest cause of accidental deaths across the country and in many states. The new filings in Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, West Virginia and Wisconsin mean 45 states have now taken legal action in recent years against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. Some of the states are also suing Richard Sackler, a former president and member of the family that owns the Connecticut-based firm. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File) 
作者：吉姆·卡罗尔（Jim Carroll）
[以下评论最初刊登在2019年6月10日出版的《高原/中西部农业杂志》（High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal）上。]
不论在小城镇、郊外居民区，还是大城市，我们国家正陷入前所未有的吸毒成瘾的危机。2017年，每天有近200人因吸食毒品过量命丧黄泉。我国没有一个角落能够避免毒品泛滥造成的破坏，美国农村地区受到的摧残尤为严重。
最近我在奥克拉荷马州（Oklahoma）东南地区花了一天的时间亲身了解毒瘾对小城镇和农村地区的影响。我与美国参议员詹姆斯·兰克福德（James Lankford）一起会见了三个社区的当地民选官员、健康护理人员、执法官员和家庭，了解毒品对他们家乡造成的影响，同时寻求通过伙伴关系制定当地解决方案的途径。
在以农业和石油为生的亨利埃塔（Henryetta），当地人口仅为5600多人，据当地治安官的代表介绍，这场危机使已十分有限的公共安全资源日益枯竭。再往南，波托（Poteau）的农村医疗诊所缺乏可以帮助人们解除毒瘾的地方性治疗选项。
类似亨利埃塔和波托这样的小城镇并不少见。美国农场局联合会（American Farm Bureau Federation ）和全国农民协会（National Farmers Union）2017年的调查发现，农村近50%的成人和75%的农民受到滥用阿片的影响。为了扭转这股趋势，保障美国农村地区继续成为农业、制造业和小企业世代繁荣之乡，唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）总统的行政当局正采取具有胆略的行动，以不同于以往的方式行事。我们必须坚持不懈地执行我们承担的挽救生命的使命。
特朗普行政当局已经采取全体总动员的方式，为农村社区提供重要的资源，并促进以地方为主导抗击这场危机的努力。去年，白宫的全国毒品管制政策办公室（White House Office of National Drug Control Policy）协同美国农业部（U.S. Department of Agriculture）制定了联邦农村资源指南，帮助农村地区领导者进行规划，利用众多现有的联邦项目解决小城镇的毒瘾危机。
此外，特朗普行政当局正通过远程医疗和宽带基础设施项目帮助密苏里州（Missouri）、德克萨斯州（Texas）和南达科他州（South Dakota）等农业州的农村社区获得毒瘾治疗和其他精神健康资源。
特朗普总统提供了数量创记录的无毒品社区项目（Drug-Free Communities Program）赠款，为专注于防止年轻人滥用物质的地方基层联盟提供支持。这些资金将有助于像堪萨斯州（Kansas）威灵顿（Wellington）和奥克拉荷马州克莱尔莫尔（Claremore）这样的小城镇的领导者保护我们的孩子不受毒瘾的侵害。
随着我们进一步采取更多的措施为小城镇提供帮助，我们可以弥合农村社区在预防、治疗和康复方面的鸿沟。我们正在提高小城镇的生活质量。通过创造农业和农村经济可以兴旺发展并实现全部潜力的环境，我们正在确保年轻人有机会留在自己的家乡。
与重要的伙伴方一道，特朗普总统的行政当局正在弥合农村社区在预防、治疗和康复方面的鸿沟。我们正在对小城镇的经济和社区进行投入，并为在这些社区长大的孩子们注入希望。
世世代代以来，农村社区经受并战胜了各种巨大的挑战。这场抗击毒瘾的斗争具有极为重大的利害关系。特朗普行政当局相信美国农村的未来和小城镇的力量。在一起，我们可以战胜这场毒瘾危机，并在当下以及为子孙后代建立强有力、健康、无毒品的社区。
——吉姆·卡罗尔是美国禁毒事务负责人

https://www.hpj.com/opinion/white-house-committed-to-tackling-drug-epidemic/article_e40479e9-c461-5873-bd92-00e4220f5587.html 
In small towns, suburban neighborhoods and big cities, our nation is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis of drug addiction. In 2017, nearly 200 people each day died due to a drug overdose. While no corner of our country has escaped the devastation of this epidemic, rural America has been hard hit.
I recently spent a day in southeast Oklahoma to learn firsthand about the impact that addiction is having on small towns and rural places. Traveling with United States Sen. James Lankford, I met with local elected officials, health care providers, law enforcement officers and families in three communities to discuss the toll drugs are taking on their hometowns, and to find ways to partner in building local solutions.
In places like Henryetta, a farming and oil community with just over 5,600 people, local sheriff’s deputies report that this crisis is draining the already limited resources for public safety. Farther south in Poteau, the rural health care clinic has no local treatment options to help the people who are struggling with addiction.
Small towns like Henryetta and Poteau are not alone. A 2017 survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation and National Farmers Union found that nearly 50 percent of rural adults and 74 percent of farmers have been impacted by the misuse of opioids. To reverse course and ensure that rural America continues to be a place of prosperity for agriculture, manufacturing and small business for generations to come, President Donald Trump’s administration is taking bold action and do things differently than has been done in the past. We must be relentless in our mission to save lives.
The Trump administration has deployed an all-hands-on-deck approach to make critical resources available to rural communities, to fuel locally led efforts to combat this crisis. Last year, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, teamed up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to compile a federal rural resource guide to help rural leaders navigate the many federal programs available to address the addiction crisis in small towns.
Additionally, the Trump administration is helping rural communities in agricultural states like Missouri, Texas and South Dakota access addiction treatment and other mental health resources through its telemedicine and broadband infrastructure programs.
President Trump awarded a record number of Drug-Free Communities Program grants to support local grassroots coalitions focused on preventing youth substance use. These funds will assist leaders in small towns like Wellington, Kansas, and Claremore, Oklahoma, protect our children from the scourge of addiction.
As we step up to do even more to assist small towns, we can fill the gaps in rural communities around prevention, treatment, and recovery. We are enhancing the quality of life in small towns. By creating an environment in which agriculture and the rural economy can thrive and reach their full potential, we are ensuring opportunity for young people to stay in their hometown.
Working with key partners, President Trump’s administration is filling the gaps in rural communities around prevention, treatment, and recovery. We are investing in economies and communities in small towns and instilling hope for children who grow up in those communities.
For generations, rural communities have endured and triumphed over considerable challenges. In this battle against drug addiction, the stakes could not be higher, and the Trump administration believes in the future of rural America and the strength of small towns. Together, we can defeat the crisis of addiction and build strong, healthy, and drug-free communities now and for generations to come.
—Jim Carroll is the U.S. drug czar.