DIRECTOR CARROLL: Absolutely. What we're seeing is they're now at the table. They want to talk to us. They're engaged. We are actually -
THE PRESIDENT: You mean it got better?
MS. CONWAY: It actually did, on fentanyl.
THE PRESIDENT: I was thinking maybe it would get worse. This is why -
DIRECTOR CARROLL: Yeah, on fentanyl it did.
THE PRESIDENT: This is why they're great negotiators, right? They went the opposite. Most people would say, "Oh..." Right? Isn't that something? That's very nice.
DIRECTOR CARROLL: It went from nonexistent to them at the table.
THE PRESIDENT: Tell them I appreciate it very much. That's very nice.
MS. CONWAY: You'll see them at the G20.
THE PRESIDENT: That's very nice. Yep.
DIRECTOR CARROLL: So we're beginning to (inaudible) this. What we're also doing, of course, is working with the families and working with the children. They love what we're doing here. For the first time ever, you've committed more resources, more people, and a vision for this. And it's paying off. And you're going to hear from the rest of the administration now.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Jim. Great job. You're doing a great job.
MS. CONWAY: Thank you, Jim.
Dr. Giroir, our Assistant Secretary for Health at HHS.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MS. CONWAY: Dr. Giroir, you see a decrease in the number of overdose deaths in some of our hardest-hit states, like West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Could you update us please on that?
DR. GIROIR: Yes, ma'am. Good afternoon, Mr. President and Mrs. Trump. As a physician, I can assure everyone that the current opioid and overdose crisis is the most daunting public health challenge of our time. But under your leadership, with the policies and programs implemented by people around the table, we are seeing real results now, saving lives. And I want to give you just a snapshot of that.
Based on data released just this morning - so this is the latest data by the CDC - I'm pleased to report that this month is the sixth consecutive month of reporting for which overdose deaths were lower compared to the previous year. That's a remarkable finding.
THE PRESIDENT: That's great. That's fantastic.
DR. GIROIR: Nationwide, overdose deaths have now fallen 4.4 percent over the past year. And let's look at some specific states. In New Hampshire, where you first announced your initiative, drug overdose deaths are down 4.8 percent. Florida - 8.1 percent. West Virginia - 10.3 percent. Iowa - 18.2 percent. Pennsylvania - 18.5 percent. And Ohio - down 23.3 percent -
THE PRESIDENT: Wow. That's tremendous.
DR. GIROIR: - as a result of the policies and programs that we've implemented.
THE PRESIDENT: And those were really the hardest-hit states that we're seeing, right?
DR. GIROIR: They are the ones that everyone would say,
"Look at them - how hard were they hit." But the great cooperation between the federal and local and the state have led to these kinds of decreases.
THE PRESIDENT: Great. Thank you very much.
DR. GIROIR: You're welcome.
THE PRESIDENT: It's very impressive.
DR. GIROIR: Yes, sir.
MS. CONWAY: Secretary Wilkie?
SECRETARY WILKIE: Yes. Well, thank you, Mr. President and Mrs. Trump. I want to start on a point that Kellyanne has been making for many months. And particularly, for VA, we needed to change the culture. Many of those who come to us are like professional athletes who have retired. They have had a lifetime of trauma, jumping out of airplanes, wounds in combat. And they come to us anticipating a lifetime of chronic pain.
And in order to treat pain, instead of the brain, we had to change the culture, which meant offering things that would've been anathema in my father's day, in the Vietnam era. So instead of giving someone a pill, we tell them we can use acupuncture, or we could use Tai Chi, or even yoga, music therapy, aqua therapy.
And in addition to that, our physicians are in the process of reviewing all of our long-term opioid cases. And we are substituting, successfully, opioids with combinations of aspirin and ibuprofen, aspirin and acetaminophen. We are finding that that treats the pain better than the traditional use of opioids. And as a result, we are getting healthier veterans.
The other thing I would say, in addition to what Kelly said about people turning away from opioids in the veterans community - since you issued your directive, veterans have turned in 35 tons of opioids. That's a lot of medicine for a population that ventures close to 9 million.
So as part of the culture of change, we are changing the way the country looks at opioids and treats them. And it is a sea change, and it is probably one of the more important contributions the VA has made to the nation - to turn our attention away from the use of these medicines and to try to make people healthier as a whole.
THE PRESIDENT: So how are we doing with coming up with a cure to the opioid? Meaning, I've instructed every single agency to work on this - with Dr. Collins and all of the folks - on a painkiller that's not addictive. And you would think they could do that. You would see - you see common medicines sold over the counter that aren't totally ineffective, right?
SECRETARY WILKIE: Absolutely.
THE PRESIDENT: So how are they doing? A painkiller that is not addictive.
SECRETARY WILKIE: So, what we are doing is we have been successful in using combinations of over-the-counter medicines - things as simple as aspirin; things that have been around since the late 19th century. And we are finding that those have the same or greater effect when it comes to treating pain. They're not addictive. They're not influencing the brain.
THE PRESIDENT: So you're saying the same or greater?
SECRETARY WILKIE: Absolutely. Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: How come nobody knows that?
SECRETARY WILKIE: Well, again, it goes back to what she's been preaching for a long time, and that is you have to shift the culture. You have to shift the trends. People have done things for so long that it takes a big push to get them on a different path, particularly in the military.
If you had come to my father - who was severely wounded in the invasion of Cambodia - and told him that we would offer you Tai Chi or acupuncture to treat that pain, my nose would've been flat against my face because it was not part of the ethos.
So, we're on that journey, and I think what you've started in the last year has propelled us. And I believe it's starting to have an impact on the Department of Defense where veterans' treatment should start before they even come to it.
THE PRESIDENT: That's fantastic, Robert. Let me ask you one other question. So, probably related much more so than we want to even think it's related, and that's suicides.
SECRETARY WILKIE: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: So you have suicides, and I hear numbers of 21 and 22 a day for veterans, which is an - I thought it was a mistake when I read it the first time.
SECRETARY WILKIE: No, it's true.
THE PRESIDENT: Is it 21, 22, 23?
SECRETARY WILKIE: Twenty.
THE PRESIDENT: It's 20. So it's just slightly down. It was 22 originally.
