President Donald Trump declares the opioid crisis a national public health emergency. He says we can be the generation that ends the opioid crisis.

Gregg Raduka, PhD, LPC, ICPS, the Director of Prevention/Intervention of the Council on Alcohol and Drugs in Atlanta, says, "I think it's extremely beneficial for the President to have done so especially because this draws media attention to the opioid epidemic."

The President says the feds will bring "major lawsuits" against companies who are "bad actors." He says the federal government will spend "lots of money" to find non-addictive painkillers.

Over the past six years overdose deaths have outnumbered those from guns, cars, suicide and murders.

More than 140 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Georgia, Raduka says what he is hearing more and more is young people overdosing. "People start taking these opioids for physical pain but they also ease mental pain and are very addictive."

Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner J. Patrick O’Neal, M.D. says, "We do not know specifically how this declaration will impact Georgia.”

He adds, “However, the additional focus it brings to the opioid epidemic may lead to ways to reduce the number of individuals and families affected by or dying from opioid overdoses every day in Georgia.”

President Trump says, "These overdoses are driven by a massive increase in addiction to prescription painkillers, heroin and other opioids." He calls the opioid crisis a "national shame".