Ahmed Aboulenein

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new strategy on Thursday to combat drug addiction. The plan aims at increasing access to opioid overdose medications, funding law enforcement and expanding sanctions for traffickers.

Biden is determined to prove that the administration is working to address the U.S. opioid crisis. According to data from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this is a 15.6% rise over the prior year.

“That’s an American lives lost every five minute around the clock,” Dr. Rahul Gopta, the director of National Drug Control Policy at The White House said.

Gupta said that overdoses have been devastating America’s social fabric for years and devastating American lives and livelihoods.

Biden will present the National Drug Control Strategy to Congress Thursday. It aims to increase treatment admissions in populations most susceptible to overdose death and to ensure that all Americans have access to opioid pain medication by 2025.

Key tools, such as Naloxone (a drug that reverses opioid overdoses), and Syringe Service Programs are frequently restricted or underfunded. Access to naloxone is restricted in certain states by law, but the drug can still be obtained in other areas.

If a patient has had previous opioid dependency or misuse, they are much more likely to get a prescription for Naloxone than those who did not have an overdose.

Gupta stated that the administration aims to increase security at its borders and triple the number drug traffickers it sanctioned. Biden, in December, signed two executive order to combat drug trafficking and criminal network.

New sanctions were imposed on Chinese businesses trading opioid drugs fentanyl, as well on crime gangs from Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia by one order.