Bondi will serve on the new Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission to be chaired by Gov. Chris Christie
While in Washington to moderate women’s empowerment panel at the White House, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was named to a group who will take the lead on combatting drug abuse. The new group is called the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission. It is a new group that was put together and will be overseen by President Donald Trump.
The commission will be chaired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and today at the White House Bondi had some early conversations about her duties when she sat with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, VA Secretary David Shulkin, Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner, Stephen Miller, Omarosa Manigault, and other administration officials.
MUST READ: Bondi to host Women’s Empowerment Event at the White House.
“Thousands of Americans each year die from drug overdoses,” Bondi said in a statement. “I want to thank the President of the United States, Governor Christie and many others for caring about this deadly epidemic.”
President Trump said the commission would fight back against drug addiction nationwide, an epidemic which claims thousands of lives each year.“We want to battle drug addiction and combat opioid [addiction] and we have to do it,” said Trump Wednesday.
Christie explained the commission would take their role seriously in defeating drug addiction in the U.S.
“I’m thrilled to work with the Attorney General on the issues of prevention and addiction to drugs so we don’t get people hooked on drugs in the first place,” Christie said. “Addiction is a disease.
One of the biggest undertakings of Bondi’s career as Florida Attorney General has been cracking down on Florida’s pill mills and drug abuse in the Sunshine State.
Under Bondi’s rule, the state shut down most of its pain clinics where doctors routinely illegally prescribed oxycodone pills.
Bondi has touted the pill mill crackdown as one of the highlights of her seven year-term as Attorney General.
Wednesday’s announcement comes as Bondi is widely rumored to be mulling over a move to Washington, leaving behind her career in the Sunshine State to take a job in President Donald Trump’s administration.
Bondi, a longtime fervent supporter of Trump, has been in Washington since Monday and it was clear that should play some role in the new administration. She will be staying in her post as the Florida Attorney General while being part of the commission.
Quotes were from Associated Press.
