On December 6th
and 7th I was at an Opioid Symposium sponsored by the Health and
Human Services Department. Its
title was “Connecting Data to Save Lives.” The Symposium was followed by a
Code-A-Thon, a 24 hour event which brought teams of select invitees from all over the United States to develop data-driven solutions to
the opioid epidemic using big data, machine learning, and technology. The Code-a-Thon teams participating in the overnight event searched for
ways to improve access to treatment and recovery services and for ways to
better identify at-risk populations for early and effective intervention using
a huge database provided by HHS.
In short, they were using evidence and science-based methodology
to help improve outcomes for an epidemic that threatens a vulnerable population of
our citizenry. Learn more about the event here:
The Center for Disease Control is a part of the Health and Human Services Department. I am baffled by the Trump
administration’s ban on the CDC using the words or phrases “vulnerable,”
“entitlement,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based,” and “science-based.”
According to the Washington Post,
senior CDC officials gave policy analysts the list of words during a
meeting Thursday in Atlanta and told them they could not use those exact terms
in any official documents being prepared for the 2019 budget being put together
next year.
“Nobody builds walls better than me.” – President Donald J. Trump
In the past year I’ve written and said in more than one speech,
“…in our common battle with addiction our biggest obstacle is a wall. It is the
wall of stigma that hems us in and blocks the path toward long overdue change.
It is a wall constructed of bigotry, discrimination, judgment, ignorance,
shame, and fear. It is our responsibility to sound a clarion call, over and
over, louder and louder, longer and longer, until – like the Biblical Joshua –
we bring that wall tumbling down. Tumbling down to reveal an enlightened path
of compassion on the other side, a path that becomes a road to recovery for
all.”
Despite all the talk from the White House the President has done
far more to reinforce the wall of stigma than he has to build a path of
compassion. He is a disease out of control. There are good people
in government who want to make lives better. People working to make lives better. I’ve seen them in action. There are clearly talented, willing citizens who want to
assist. We cannot, must not, let
an ill- tempered, ill-advised braggart divide us or separate us from those who
would help us heal.
