action by providing policy direction , tools and funding to help people in the community .
WVE : Can you discuss a significant challenge you ’ ve faced in your work and how you overcame it ?
RG : The biggest challenge I faced was being asked by the President of the United States to bring down the number of people dying from overdoses and help turn the ship around so we can beat the opioid crisis . When President Joe Biden came into office , our country was facing overdose death rates of 31 % a year . Drug traffickers and producers were moving at the speed of business , and we were moving at the speed of government . As the first practicing physician to hold this office , it was up to me to come up with a clear plan to save lives . We put a goal into place to cut overdose deaths by 13 % by the end of 2025 , and we created evidence-based policies to get there .
Last December , we announced a 17 % drop in overdose deaths — that ’ s a 48 % turnaround . Not only did we surpass our goal , but we did it a year and a half ahead of schedule . Below are three important steps that led to this unprecedented drop , which has saved over 500,000 Americans .
As any EMT , soldier or trauma doctor will tell you , the first thing you need to do is stop the bleeding . If you don ’ t , nothing else matters . We knew one of the quickest ways to save lives was to get more naloxone or Narcan into people ’ s hands , and we surged funding to states to buy it .
We also launched the White House Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose , which has brought together major companies like United Airlines and Major League Baseball as well as small businesses in towns across America to commit to having naloxone on hand so they can save a life .
We needed to make treatment more accessible and available than obtaining drugs . It used to be that a doctor could prescribe opioids but needed an extra license called the x-waiver by the DEA to be able to treat patients with opioid addiction . We removed that barrier , and by eliminating the x-waiver , increased the number of prescribers 15-fold .
For too many years , drug traffickers have counted their money while we have counted our dead , and we need to turn that around . This is a global business , and we need to treat it like one . Taking out kingpins and cartel leaders is necessary , but it ’ s not sufficient .
We have made drug production more costly , difficult and time consuming . Detecting all the drugs we can and seizing what we detect is not enough . We needed to go deep into the production and supply chain and stop the drugs from being made in the first place .
At the same time , we are continuing to seize record amounts of fentanyl at the border — before it can kill Americans — and go after the supply of drugs in new ways . We ’ re going after the finances and illegal profits of drug traffickers ; holding more people accountable , including the lawyers , accountants , brokers and real estate agents who enable drug trafficking and money laundering ; and
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