It’s a flood. No, it’s a fire. Or encroachment by rising tides, or perhaps it’s a wind event and the power is out over a wide swath of land.
Actually, it is a human behavior. An addiction.
Humans in Alaska are putting things in their bodies that don’t belong there. They are intentionally poisoning themselves with heroin and synthetic drugs. And this behavior is widespread enough to be considered, by the Walker Administration, in the realm of natural disaster.
By making opioid addiction a declared disaster, the governor hopes to draw in some federal monies to help with medicine that can prevent overdoses. It’s unclear at this point what federal money might be freed up this way.
We have to ask the questions:
Are car crashes considered public health emergencies? They kill more people than opioids.
Is diabetes or obesity a similar health emergency?
When, if ever, should normal lawmaking and enforcement be suspended and a type of executive power be implemented to protect the health of the public?
When, if ever, will the governor lift the emergency powers? How will he know when the crisis is averted or at least stabilized?
Is this emergency order similar to the one last year titled: “Hiring freeze and travel ban” that was promptly ignored even by the Governor’s office?
Governor Walker has a high hill to climb to explain how addiction to opioids has reached the level of a catastrophe when so many other public health problems have not.
Suspending regular democratic governance, rule of law, and the usurping the authority of the Legislature is a signal that either the drug addiction problem is worse than we thought, or the governor needs a fix to boost his flagging public image.
http://mustreadalaska.com/addiction-now-disaster-alaska-governor-declares/
