Asked in August 2017 why he hadn’t taken his own commission’s recommendation to label the epidemic a national emergency, President Trump dodged the question. He said he believed the best way to keep people from getting addicted or overdosing was by “talking to youth and telling them: No good, really bad for you in every way.” A few days later, he seemed to change his mind, saying he would make the emergency official, even as he remained tethered to a law-and-order approach.
