We must stand up to bad politics, not hide in an ivory tower
LAST month, we did something in these pages that we have never seen fit to do before: praise Donald Trump. We now admit that we were wrong.
The US president won our approval with his response to the opioid crisis, which kills about 175 Americans a day. He not only recognised the problem but also set up a special commission whose lengthy and evidence-based report made 56 recommendations for ending the crisis.
It seems to have been empty words. None of the recommendations has been acted on, and no new funding has been forthcoming, except for a law-enforcement crackdown on the drugs (see “Trump’s 90-day plan for opioids has failed – here’s a better one“). So yet again we find ourselves criticising Trump, even though we know that some readers are tired of it. Some are his supporters; others simply do not wish to see politics in a science magazine.
