Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen
Podcasts Take Two
U.S. Drug Czar on President Obama's push for opiod addiction treatment
solid orange rectangular banner
()
Mar 30, 2016
Listen 10:50
U.S. Drug Czar on President Obama's push for opiod addiction treatment
Currently, more Americans are killed because of opiod overdose than in traffic accidents. That works out to one death every 19 minutes.
US President Barack Obama speaks on drug abuse at the East End Family Resource Center on October 21, 2015 in Charleston, West Virginia. At right is Director of National Drug Control Policy Michael Botticelli. AFP PHOTO/MANDEL NGAN        (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
US President Barack Obama speaks on drug abuse at the East End Family Resource Center on October 21, 2015 in Charleston, West Virginia. At right is Director of National Drug Control Policy Michael Botticelli.
(
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
)

Currently, more Americans are killed because of opiod overdose than in traffic accidents. That works out to one death every 19 minutes.

Every 19 minutes, someone dies from an opiod overdose.

Yesterday, President Obama spoke about that troubling statistic at a summit on prescription drug abuse and heroin. He noted that currently, more Americans are killed because of opiod overdose than in traffic accidents.

"Now you think about that," the President said. "A lot of people tragically die of car accidents and we spend a lot of time and a lot of resources to reduce those fatalities. And the good news is that we've actually been very successful. The problem is here we've got the trajectory going in the opposite direction."

The President also announced a package of new initiatives designed to combat drug use.

Michael Botticelli, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, joined Take Two to discuss.

To listen to the full interview, click the blue player above.