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President Donald Trump signs opioid bill into law and vows to end the ‘scourge’ of drug addiction

President Donald Trump signed the bill known as the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, to improve the country’s opioid epidemic response efforts. This bill aims to remove patient restrictions on Medicaid and Medicare to improve access to treatment services. It also addresses health systems over prescribing opioids and allows government authorities to research nonaddictive drugs for patient pain management. It will check foreign shipments of illicit drugs to the U.S.

21 private sector and non-profit partners were welcomed by the White House to sign the bill and they pledged to contribute towards the cause.

This is how some companies plan to contribute:

1. Amazon will give first responders a better access to critical medical records and programmed Alexa to answer questions about opioid and addiction.

2. Red Cross plans to offer its online course called First Aid for Opioid Overdoses, which will help people respond to suspected opioid overdoses and cooperate opioid education in more than 3 million yearly first-aid trainings.

3. Johnson & Johnson will educate U.S. nurses and physicians to combat substance abuse. It will also launch an opioid addiction awareness campaign to reach more than 2.5 million expecting parents at BabyCenter.

Behavioral health services combat mental illness, substance abuse or other addictions. Opioid addiction is a major concern in the U.S. and this law will help to fight the opioid crisis.

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