[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 182 (Thursday, September 21, 2017)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 44297-44298]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-20380]


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

[[Page 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.

[[Page 44298]]

                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.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2017-20380
Filed 9-20-17; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F7-P