On Friday, The New York Instances revealed a bombshell report detailing co-President Elon Musk’s drug abuse, saying the malevolent billionaire used psychedelic mushrooms, ecstasy, Adderall, and a lot ketamine that it was negatively impacting his bladder.
However President Donald Trump has embraced and celebrated Musk, regardless of the drug abuse, permitting him to take a sledgehammer to the federal authorities’s features whereas on the similar time selling Musk’s private enterprise ventures.
Trump even plans to rejoice Musk on Friday afternoon, as Musk prepares to go away his function as an unelected bureaucrat to deal with his ailing enterprise empire.
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“I am having a Press Conference tomorrow at 1:30 P.M. EST, with Elon Musk, at the Oval Office. This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way. Elon is terrific! See you tomorrow at the White House,” Trump wrote in a submit on Fact Social—an occasion that can almost definitely be much more extremely watched now that the Instances’ report dropped and reporters will wish to learn about Musk’s drug use.
Whereas Trump has embraced the drug-using Musk—regardless of his erratic habits and sloppy work that has endangered lives and livelihoods—he has on the similar time tried to punish low-income drug customers by making an attempt to strip them of their Medicaid and unemployment insurance coverage.
Throughout his first time period in workplace, Trump needed to permit states to deny folks Medicaid protection in the event that they have been unlawful drug customers.
He additionally needed to permit states to drug check individuals who misplaced their jobs in an effort to deny them unemployment insurance coverage—a coverage the ACLU opposed as a result of it seemingly violates People’ Fourth Modification rights to unreasonable authorities searches if there isn’t a motive to suspect somebody is a drug consumer.
Now in his second time period, Trump is making an attempt to slash funding for drug therapy and overdose prevention.
His administration has canceled $11.4 billion in “COVID-era funding for grants linked to addiction, mental health and other programs,” NPR reported in March, slicing analysis on drug habit in addition to authorities staff working to assist present therapy and sources to drug customers.
Actually, Trump’s administration slashed a whole lot of jobs from the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration—which seeks to stop substance abuse and supply therapy to assist drug customers get well—and folded the group into the brand new Administration for a Wholesome America.
Trump has so decimated SAMHSA that Democratic senators say it can affect how many individuals can obtain therapy.
“Downsizing SAMHSA into a new ‘division’, dismantling its functions, and firing over half its workforce puts at risk the lives of the 58.7 million Americans who experience a mental health condition and 48.5 million of those who are impacted by a substance use disorder,” Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla of California, Tina Smith of Minnesota, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Unbiased Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote in a information launch denouncing the cuts.
In the meantime, in Trump’s 2026 price range request, he additionally proposed slicing $56 million in funding for a program that teaches first responders the right way to use Narcan—a lifesaving drug that may reverse drug overdose results. And his administration can be eschewing different hurt discount efforts—like offering fentanyl check strips—in favor of 12-step packages to assist drug customers, which specialists say will result in extra overdoses.
“Programs that provide overdose prevention education and distribute naloxone are also one of the best ways to build trust with people who use drugs. Providers can connect them to treatment and get naloxone in their hands,” the Drug Coverage Alliance stated in an April information launch warning of the impacts of Trump’s proposed price range cuts. “These lifesaving resources are all at risk with Trump’s federal funding cuts. Without these services, we could see a sharp reversal of the progress we’ve made in preventing overdose deaths.”
In the end, the truth that Trump is ok with Musk’s drug use whereas on the similar time making an attempt to punish low-income drug customers can seemingly be boiled down to 1 factor: Musk has been helpful to Trump, bankrolling his marketing campaign to the tune of a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} that helped Trump win and take his profitable grift to the White Home. In the meantime, low-income drug abusers should not helpful for him.
