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In the name of reducing fentanyl overdoses, the Trump administration has gone to the extreme—levying tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China; listing cartels as terrorist organizations; calling for the death penalty against drug dealers; and weighing drone strikes in Mexico. “When voters overwhelmingly elected Donald J. Trump as President, they gave him a mandate to seal the border and stop the influx of deadly drugs,” reads a recently posted White House fact sheet. “That is exactly what he is doing.”
But the dramatic proclamations gloss over a glaring reality: The administration is slashing funding for state and federal agencies that provide addiction treatment and overdose prevention programs. And these cuts are likely just the beginning. The budget House Republicans passed last week sets the stage for cuts to Medicaid, which paid for opioid addiction treatment for 2 million people …