It’s hard to decide which member of the Trump administration is the most insensitive and ignorant. While Trump himself usually makes the most objectionable statements on nearly every issue, others in his orbit also manage to open their mouths and plant their feet inside.
Take, for example, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who made an appearance at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Tampa this week and said doctors were prescribing too many pain pills for Americans with chronic pain. Instead, Sessions suggested:
“This company prescribes too many opioids. People need to take some aspirin sometimes and tough it out… you can get through these things.”
Yeah, just tough it out! Broke your hip? Tape an aspirin to it and get back out there! Recovering from surgery? Here’s a Tylenol; stop your whining!
Sessions also commented:
“Sometimes you just need to take two Bufferin or something and go to bed!”
Bob Twillman, the executive director of the Academy of Integrative Pain Management, saidthe comments from the AG prove that the administration doesn’t understand the basics of pain:
“That remark reflects a failure to recognize the severity of pain of some patients. It’s an unconscionable remark. It further illustrates how out of touch parts of the administration are with opioids and pain management.”
And that’s not the only way this administration is utterly failing when it comes to the opioid crisis in the United States. As Politico recently reported:
“Trump has not formally proposed any new resources or spending, typically the starting point for any emergency response. He promised to roll out a ‘really tough, really big, really great’ advertising campaign to spread awareness about addiction, but that has yet to take shape. And key public health and drug posts in the administration remain vacant, so it’s not clear who has the authority to get new programs moving.”
Translation: Trump doesn’t give a damn about people struggling with drug addiction. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Got a problem with that? Take an aspirin.