Presidential Documents

59785 

Federal Register 

Vol. 88, No. 167 

Wednesday, August 30, 2023 

Title 3— 

The President 

Proclamation 10608 of August 25, 2023 

Overdose Awareness Week, 2023 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

The overdose epidemic is a national crisis, and for millions of Americans, 

it is personal. Too many families have lost their children, siblings, parents, 

and friends to substance misuse and overdose. Every loss is a painful reminder that we must take bold action to end our Nation’s overdose epidemic. 

During Overdose Awareness Week, we reaffirm our commitment to beating 

this public health and public safety epidemic—in memory of all those we 

have lost and to protect all the lives we can still save. 

People with substance use disorder face too many barriers to treatment. 

And while synthetic opioids, like illicitly produced fentanyl, are driving 

the majority of overdose deaths today and perpetuating addiction, we know 

that prevention and recovery are possible if people get the support and 

treatment they need. That’s why my Administration established a National 

Drug Control Strategy that goes after two major drivers of the overdose 

epidemic: untreated addiction and drug trafficking. 

My Administration has worked hard to ensure that substance use disorder 

is treated like any other disease, funding the expansion of prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support services. As a part of my 

Unity Agenda, we passed a law making it easier for doctors to prescribe 

effective treatments, leading to an unprecedented and historic expansion 

that finally put help within reach for millions of Americans. 

Through the American Rescue Plan, we delivered more than $5 billion 

to strengthen and expand State and community mental health and substance 

use disorder services. We also addressed the mental health of frontline 

workers, like nurses, who are dealing with this crisis every day, by directing 

$103 million specifically to meet their needs. And my Bipartisan Safer 

Communities Act went even further—providing billions of dollars to improve 

mental health services for young people, including hiring and training more 

school mental health counselors so young people get the care they need. 

We continue to fight the stigmatization that surrounds substance use disorder 

so people feel comfortable reaching out for help when they need it. The 

Food and Drug Administration approved two Naloxone products—an opioid 

overdose reversal medication—for over-the-counter use. Now, every American 

will be able to access this life-saving medication. And our new National 

Response Plan to address the deadly combination of fentanyl mixed with 

xylazine coordinates efforts across all of government to confront this dangerous emerging threat. 

My Administration is also disrupting the flow of illicit drugs by making 

it costlier to bring killer drugs into America; going after drug traffickers’ 

profits; and targeting their financial networks, supply chains, and delivery 

routes, including on the internet. We have strengthened coordination and 

information sharing among our intelligence and domestic law enforcement 

agencies to dismantle drug traffickers and their networks. So far, my Administration has seized more than 1.6 million pounds of drugs before they crossed 

the border and entered into our communities, including over 42,500 pounds 

of illicitly manufactured fentanyl. And we are not done. Drug overdose 

deaths leveled off in 2022 after sharp increases from 2019 to 2021. Now, 


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59786 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 167 / Wednesday, August 30, 2023 / Presidential Documents 

we must double down on this work, which is why my proposed budget 

for Fiscal Year 2024 requests a historic $46.1 billion for national drug 

control programs. The Congress must act to invest in solutions that will 

prevent these drugs from ever hitting our streets and getting into the hands 

of our loved ones, including by passing all of the measures called for 

in my Administration’s 2021 recommendations to the Congress on reducing 

illicit fentanyl-related substances, which will strengthen public health and 

public safety. 

Today, I grieve with all those who have lost someone to an overdose. 

May we find hope in the more than 20 million brave Americans recovering 

from substance use disorder, who show us what is possible when people 

have the care, treatment, and support they need. My Administration will 

continue to ensure that our Nation has the resources we need to address 

this crisis, prevent illicit drugs from reaching our communities, and finally 

defeat the overdose epidemic in our Nation. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States 

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution 

and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim August 27 through 

September 2, 2023, as Overdose Awareness Week. I call upon citizens, 

government agencies, civil society organizations, health care providers, and 

research institutions to raise awareness of substance use disorder so that 

our Nation can combat stigmatization, promote treatment, celebrate recovery, 

and strengthen our collective efforts to prevent overdose deaths. August 

31st also marks Overdose Awareness Day, on which we honor and remember 

those who have lost their lives to the drug overdose epidemic. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth 

day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and 

of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 

and forty-eighth. 

[FR Doc. 2023–18882 

Filed 8–29–23; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3395–F3–P 


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