Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 182 / Thursday, September 21, 2017 / Presidential Documents 44297 

Proclamation 9643 of September 15, 2017 

Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week, 

2017 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

During Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week, we draw 

renewed attention to the scourge that continues to devastate individuals, 

families, and communities across our Nation. Preliminary data indicates 

that approximately 64,000 Americans died last year of drug overdoses in 

the United States, the majority of them from opioids. The number of infants 

born with opioid dependence has more than quadrupled in the past decade. 

Nearly 100 Americans, on average, die each day from opioid overdoses, 

and overdose rates are highest among people between 25 to 54 years old, 

robbing so many of our young people of their potential. This is a genuine 

crisis that my Administration is working tirelessly to address. 

The Department of Health and Human Services is leading an interagency 

effort to maximize the effect of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery 

Act (CARA) and 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) programs. In March, 

I issued an Executive Order establishing the President’s Commission on 

Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis (Commission) to study 

how the Federal Government can most effectively address the epidemic. 

The Commission will release its final recommendations this fall, and my 

Administration will rely on its findings to inform a whole-of-government 

emergency response plan. In addition, my FY 2018 Budget commits significant resources to fighting this epidemic, including $1.3 billion in investments 

for CARA and Cures Act programs, and other opioid-related initiatives that 

seek to prevent opioid abuse, improve access to treatment and recovery 

support services, and enhance overdose prevention programs. 

This week, we reaffirm our commitment to fighting the opioid and heroin 

epidemic. Too many families know the enduring personal, emotional, and 

financial harm caused by prescription opioid and heroin addiction. To the 

men and women who are currently seeking or receiving treatment and 

to those who are in recovery: We stand with you, we pray for you, and 

we are working every single day to help you. As a Nation, we will come 

together to save lives and end this crisis. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, 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 September 17 through 

September 23, 2017, as Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness 

Week. I call upon my fellow Americans to observe this week with appropriate 

programs, ceremonies, religious services, and other activities that raise awareness about the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic. 


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44298 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 182 / Thursday, September 21, 2017 / Presidential Documents 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day 

of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand seventeen, and of 

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

forty-second. 

[FR Doc. 2017–20380 

Filed 9–20–17; 11:15 am] 

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