Trump says U.S. will 'win' in fight against opioid crisis

BRIDGEWATER - 8 August 2017: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United States had no alternative but to defeat an epidemic of opioid drug use, but announced no new policies to combat the health crisis that kills more than 100 Americans daily.

"It is a problem the likes of which we have not seen," Trump told reporters in the midst of a two-week getaway at his golf club in New Jersey.

"We will fight this deadly epidemic and the United States will win," Trump added. "We will win. We have no alternative."

Trump had earlier announced he would give a "major briefing" on opioid drug use but instead gave a few brief comments on the subject while also warning North Korea it would be met with "fire and fury" if it threatens the United States.

Trump aides were due to discuss the opioid topic later on Tuesday.

A commission created by Trump to study opioid abuse urged him last week to declare a national emergency to address what it called a crisis involving the epidemic use of opioids, framing its death toll in the context of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The commission, headed by Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, recommended a series of steps Trump could take on his own without Congress. It called for waiving a federal rule that restricts the number of people who can receive residential addiction treatment under the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor and disabled.