Trump Administration Introduces Addiction Treatment Website
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he Trump administration introduced a new website dedicated exclusively to addiction treatment and recovery programs. The administration is calling the website an “America First design,” and will run it without tapping into federal resources.
According to the Associated Press, FindTreatment.gov is a website the administration launched to help combat the opiate crisis. A White House spokesperson said they the administration believes the site, which went live Wednesday, will help many Americans with substance abuse issues.
FindTreatment.gov includes a directory of 13,000 licensed treatment providers maintained by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The goal is for visitors to be able to easily search this database instead of haphazardly looking all over the web. Visitors to the website can search results based on the type of treatments needed, by payment options, and by whether medication is needed. People can also select options for youth, LGBTQ individuals and veterans.
“We know that the drug crisis is indiscriminate, so we want the response to be indiscriminate,” said Kellyanne Conway, the counselor to President Donald Trump who is leading the White House response to the drug crisis. “We designed it with human-centered principles in mind,” Conway added, referring to the simplicity of the new site. “We used real words for real people.”
The site was apparently designed based on user feedback, and one of its goals is to make searching for treatment quick and easy, helping to get rid of the stigma that addicts face. Future plans include partnering with Veterans Affairs to provide more targeted treatment.
Many have issues with the Trump administration and wish Trump had done more for cannabis. However, in addition to this move, the administration has been praised lately for its proposed ban on flavored e-cigarettes, as well as for staying out of state cannabis laws for the most part. A website with this many resources could end up being an asset to the world of addiction treatment.
