美国国家公共电台 NPR From Alaska To Florida, States Respond To Opioid Crisis With Emergency Declarations

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Public health officials and others concerned about the nation's opioid crisis are pleased with President Trump's intention to declare it a national emergency. Trump's presidential commission on opioids said an emergency declaration would allow for immediate² action and send a message to Congress that more funding is needed. Governors in six states have already declared emergencies to deal with opioids, as NPR's Greg Allen reports.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE³: The states that have declared emergencies on opioids show the national scope of the crisis. They range from Alaska and Arizona in the west to Florida, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts in the east. In Maryland, where 550 overdose deaths were reported in just the first three months of this year, Governor Larry Hogan declared opioids a public health emergency in March.

CLAY STAMP: It's a call to order and a call to action.

ALLEN: Clay Stamp was appointed to head the state's Opioid Operational Command Center. He comes to the job with a background as an emergency manager and compares the effort to the state's response to a hurricane.

STAMP: We need all the right people in the room to make sure that we can make a decision in time to move people out of harm's way, shelter them and everything else, getting everybody's attention focused, and strategies and driving programs and processes. This is no different.

ALLEN: Since declaring an emergency, Maryland has tightened⁴ practices for those prescribing opioids and received a waiver to allow Medicaid to pay for residential¹ drug treatment. Massachusetts was the first state to declare opioids a public health emergency in 2014. Michael Barnett, an assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard's Chan School of Public Health, says the governor at that time, Deval Patrick, acted on the recommendation of a special task force.

MICHAEL BARNETT: To open up funding for the Department of Public Health. For instance, to open up more treatment beds, to create funding and make it easier for legislation, for first responders to use naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses, in the field.

ALLEN: Making the naloxone freely available and putting it in the hands of more people has helped save lives. That's been one of the most immediate impacts of emergency declarations in states that have issued them. Arizona's governor declared a public health emergency in June. Will Humble⁵ with Arizona's Public Health Association says with that declaration, the state began gathering⁶ badly needed data.

WILL HUMBLE: You can put together a more complete picture of what the epidemic⁷ looks like, who it's hitting, where it's hitting, who's doing the prescribing, what portion of it are fentanyl and heroin⁸ and what portion are the prescribed pills. And as you get that more complete information, it allows you to craft better public policy.

ALLEN: In Florida, the emergency declaration issued in May enabled the governor to quickly allocate⁹ some $27 million in federal funds for drug treatment and prevention. Alton Taylor heads the Drug Abuse Foundation in Palm Beach County, which last year saw nearly 600 fatal overdoses, mostly related to opioids. Taylor says although the emergency declaration was welcome, Palm Beach County and the rest of the state still don't have enough publicly funded beds available to treat people with opioid addictions¹⁰.

ALTON TAYLOR: Today, as I'm talking to you, we have over 200 people on our waiting lists. These are people where we've done a clinical assessment¹¹ on them and determined¹² them to be in need of that service.

ALLEN: Despite the emergency declaration, Florida, unlike some other states, hasn't tapped Medicaid to help pay for drug treatment. Taylor says he's hopeful President Trump's emergency declaration, when finalized¹³, will free up more money to treat people in recovery from opioid addictions. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.

1 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

2 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

5 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

6 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

7 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

8 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

9 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

10 addictions   

瘾( addiction的名词复数 )； 吸毒成瘾； 沉溺； 癖好

参考例句：

• He has removed the stigma of drug addictions. 他已经洗去吸毒的污点了。
• Intelligent people are good at using reason to control excessive addictions. 智慧的人善于用理性来控制过度的嗜欲。

11 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

12 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

13 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》