Contact: Joelle Dountio Ofimboudem, jdountio@treatmentactiongroup.org
New York City, August 7, 2025 — The current administration’s Executive Order on Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s streets is yet another direct attack on science and basic human rights. Substance use disorders are chronic medical conditions affecting key neural pathways, and many people with substance use disorders also experience other mental health disorders. In addition, research indicates that people who inject drugs are at increased risk for HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and experience high levels of homelessness and unstable housing.[1] In ordering their institutionalization and failing to recognize their dignity, human rights, and basic needs, and instead choosing to label them as “addicted to drugs” and perpetrators of “endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks [which] have made our cities unsafe,” this administration is further perpetrating the failed and disastrous war on drugs.
According to the 2016 Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health, an evidence-based approach similar to chronic illness management has been shown to facilitate recovery from substance use disorders and improve other outcomes including reducing crime and the incidence of infectious diseases.[2] This Executive Order not only sows fear of governmental action, but also isolates and forces already marginalized populations to avoid health care services, posing a significant barrier to HCV, HIV, and TB elimination in the United States.
Aside from directly contradicting well-researched and evidence-informed practices, this Executive Order completely disregards a significant milestone in HCV elimination. On June 4, 2025, U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced life-saving legislation to provide low-income and underserved Americans with curative treatment for HCV, the Cure Hepatitis C Act of 2025 (S. 1941). HCV infection is a serious epidemic in the United States with 80% of new infections occurring among people who use drugs. Over 2.4 million people are estimated to be living with chronic HCV in the United States and, every year, 15,000 Americans die from hepatitis C-related liver disease, surpassing the death rate from HIV. The Cure Hepatitis C Act will establish a voluntary treatment subscription model to connect people with HCV — a great proportion of whom include people who use drugs, people who are unstably housed, and people with mental health disorders — to treatment and stop further transmission. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation will save over $6 billion, and eliminate the need for very expensive chronic care in the future.
By demonizing people with substance use disorders, mental health conditions, and those who are unstably housed — while expressly calling to defund harm reduction programs and safe consumption sites, and to prosecute those who operate them — this Executive Order reverses efforts to ensure these individuals can access the care they need to live healthy and dignified lives.
TAG calls on the Trump Administration to adopt a public health and evidence-based approach similar to chronic illness management for people with substance use disorders and mental health disorders — including those who are unstably housed — and urges Congress to include the Cure Hepatitis C Act of 2025 in a broader health legislative package being considered this year.
[1] Arum C et Al. Homelessness, unstable housing, and risk of HIV and hepatitis C virus acquisition among people who inject drugs: a systematic and meta-analysis. Lancet Public Health. 2021 March 26;6(5);e309.
[2] Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US). Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health [Internet]. Chapter 7, Vision for the Future: A Public Heath Approach. Washington (DC). 2016 Nov. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK424857/.
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About TAG: Treatment Action Group (TAG) is an independent, activist and community-based research and policy think tank fighting for better treatment, prevention, a vaccine, and a cure for HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis C virus. TAG works to ensure that all people with HIV, TB, and HCV receive lifesaving treatment, care, and information. We are science-based treatment activists working to expand and accelerate vital research and effective community engagement with research and policy institutions.