Last week, the Trump administration released a five-step plan to address the country’s opioid addiction crisis. The administration’s new drug czar’s plan focuses largely on attempts to prevent opioid-related overdose deaths.

It won’t work. Here’s why: The plan continues a years-old downstream focus on overdose death prevention and neglects the opportunity to prevent addiction in the first place.

In 2023, the last year for which we have full-year overdose data, 81,000 Americans died from an opioid-related overdose — an average of more than 220 deaths per day. Despite these staggering numbers, the administration’s plan primarily focuses on stopping the flow of illicit fentanyl into the U.S., relying on border control and punitive measures against drug cartels.

While addressing fentanyl trafficking is important, this approach tackles only one part of a far more complex problem. The reality is that overdose deaths remain high not only because of illegal fentanyl but also because millions of Americans continue to receive prescription........

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