Trump Is Donating $100,000 of His Pay to Fight the Opioid Crisis. Here's How Far That Money Could Go
The White House announced Thursday that President Donald Trump will donate his third-quarter salary—$100,000—to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in an effort to bolster the department's fight against the opioid epidemic.
“His decision to donate his salary is a tribute to his compassion, to his patriotism and his sense of duty to the American people,” acting HHS Secretary Eric Hargan said during Thursday's White House press briefing.
The announcement comes a month after Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. That move expanded access to treatment in a few different ways, but did not free up much new funding for combatting the epidemic, which claimed an estimated 64,000 lives between January 2016 and January 2017. Experts and lawmakers have said it could take billions, if not trillions, of dollars to end the opioid epidemic.
The White House hasn't specified exactly how Trump's $100,000 donation—part of his pledge to donate his entire $400,000 annual salary while in office—will be used. However, here are a few forms of opioid treatments it could buy:
- 750 two-dose boxes of Narcan, the naloxone nasal spray that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, when purchased at a pharmacy, according to GoodRx. By 2014, the American Society of Addiction Medicine reports, members of the public had used Narcan to stop 26,000 overdose deaths.
- 1,333 Narcan kits for first responders, community centers or departments of health, according to the manufacturer. In Washington, D.C., the fire department alone spent $170,000 on naloxone in 10 months, NPR reports.
- 21 patients' worth of year-long courses of methadone maintenance treatment, which reduces withdrawal and cravings, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
- 1,010 60-tablet supplies of buprenorphine, a drug commonly used to treat opioid addiction, according to GoodRx. Buprenorphine is usually taken daily.
- 74 vials of Vivitrol, another drug used to treat opioid addiction, according to GoodRx. Vivitrol is taken monthly.
- The salaries of two substance abuse counselors, according to U.S. News.
In addition to his contribution to the HHS, Trump donated his first-quarter salary to the National Parks Service and his second-quarter salary to the Department of Education.