Sen. Manchin: Slashing 'drug czar' budget would cause pandemic

May 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. senator said Sunday a proposal to cut nearly the entire budget of the "drug czar" would be a "pandemic" but the Health and Human Services secretary said President Donald Trump is committed to fighting drug abuse.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said on CBS's Face The Nation that he hoped the White House's reported plans to cut nearly the entire budget for the Office of National Drug Control Policy were "not a serious consideration."

Tom Price said on NBC's Meet the Press "this is a budget that hasn't been completed yet."

"The president has an absolute commitment to making certain that we fight the opioid crisis," Price said . "Whether it's through an office within the White House or whether it's through a department, an agency of government, I don't think the American people care. What they care about is that we are absolutely addressing this opioid crisis in the most aggressive and effective manner possible."

As a candidate, Trump had he'd fight the opioid epidemic. And last month, he created a presidential commission to address opioid dependence.

But according to sources and an interoffice memorandum, Trump's budget proposal would strip the office of 95 percent of its federal funding -- from nearly $400 million this year to just $24 million in fiscal 2018. "Drug czar" personnel would be slashed and so would be programs and grants, including the Model State Drug Laws, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas and Drug-free Communities Support program.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy was created in 1982 under President Ronald Reagan to manage the executive branch's anti-drug efforts and coordinated efforts with state and local authorities.

Manchin, a Democat from West Virginia, said cutbacks "in any other sense of the word would be a pandemic."

"You don't cut 90 percent of funding out of the greatest epidemic that we've ever had," he said.

Manchin, who noted 800 people in his state died from drug overdoses last year, said education and rehab are vital.

"We need to have treatment centers that take care of people. We need to start basically education from kindergarten all the way through adulthood," he said. "We need to get involved and stop this epidemic that's going on.