President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order creating a new "Great American Recovery Initiative," a White House effort he said is aimed at coordinating the federal response to drug addiction and substance abuse across the country.

New Task Force To Coordinate Federal Response

The order establishes a White House task force that will advise agencies on how to steer grants toward prevention, treatment, recovery housing and re-entry programs, and to align overlapping efforts across the government.

"There's nothing more important than what we're doing right now, in my opinion," Trump said at the Oval Office ceremony. "Today, I'm signing a historic executive order to combat the scourge of addiction and substance abuse … We're calling it the Great American Recovery Initiative."

Panel To Integrate Prevention, Treatment And Recovery

The initiative will be co-chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathryn Burgum, a longtime recovery advocate who has spoken publicly about achieving sobriety after years of alcoholism.

The panel is expected to recommend ways to integrate prevention, early intervention, treatment and long-term recovery support into federal grants administered by agencies including HHS and the Justice Department.

Overdose Deaths Remain High Despite Recent Decline

The move comes even as drug overdose deaths, while falling, remain near historic highs. New federal data show 79,384 people died of overdoses in 2024, an age-adjusted rate of 23.1 deaths per 100,000 people, down 26.2% from 2023 but still well above pre-pandemic levels. Most of the decline reflects fewer deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

An estimated 48.5 million Americans 12 and older had a substance use disorder in 2023, but only about one in four people who needed treatment received it, according to the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Among 39.6 million adults with a substance use disorder who went untreated, about 95% neither sought care nor believed they needed it.

The announcement also follows a political backlash after the administration abruptly moved to cancel and then reinstated nearly $2 billion in grants for addiction and mental health programs run through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

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