One of President Donald Trump’s biggest campaign promises was ending America’s fentanyl crisis. Since taking office, he’s made moves he said are aimed at doing just that, like imposing certain tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.
Despite that, though, Trump’s administration is looking at cutting a $56 million grant that teaches first responders how to use the lifesaving overdose reversal drug Naloxone, more commonly known as Narcan.
What does the grant do?
The grant, administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), can be used by state and local organizations to train people to use naloxone and administer and distribute the medication.
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Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. fell by 24% from Sept. 2023 to Sept. 2024, per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In fiscal year 2023, the First Responders-Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (FR-CARA) program distributed more than 101,000 opioid overdose reversal medication kits and trained nearly 77,000 people to administer them. Plans for 2024 raised that goal to distributing 130,000 kits and training tens of thousands more people to use them.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose deaths in the United States fell 24% between September 2023 and September 2024. Experts said that the drop is likely the result of a wide range of persistent efforts starting to make an impact, including expanded access to naloxone.
Trump admin’s plan to slash federal spending
The proposed cut comes as the Trump administration is looking to cut $33.3 billion from the Health and Human Services Budget in fiscal year 2026 and eliminate SAMHSA altogether, according to a March report from the Associated Press.
However, White House officials have not made any final decisions about the upcoming fiscal budget, including potential cuts to the Narcan program.
What else is the Trump administration doing to fight the opioid epidemic?
In April, Attorney General Pam Bondi said since Trump took office in late January, his administration has seized “more than 22 million fentanyl laced pills, saving over 119 million lives.”
The president has repeatedly called out Canada, Mexico and China for their alleged roles in America’s fentanyl crisis. In March, he levied 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% on China for failing to stop drugs from coming into the U.S.
“Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels. A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled.”
Then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the tariffs “unjustified,” and his country responded with tariffs on more than $100 billion worth of American goods over 21 days. China, meanwhile, enacted retaliatory 15% tariffs on key American farm products.
On March 6, Trump paused the 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico, but not those against China. He credited Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum with making progress on border security and drug smuggling. After its initial retaliatory tariffs of $21 billion on U.S. goods, the Canadian government suspended its second wave of retaliatory tariffs in response.
