Trump’s ‘Emergency’ Declaration For Opioids Could Be A Double-Edged Sword

In this century, the government has so far declared just a handful of public health emergencies. A dozen were for natural disasters, like hurricanes and tornadoes. They were declared for 9/11, and, oddly, Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, when the government needed to direct extra money for dealing with massive crowds in Washington. Then there were two cases of worrisome disease outbreaks ? the flu strain known as H1N1 in 2009, and the Zika virus in late 2016 and early 2017.