美国国家公共电台 NPR West Virginia Families Worry About Access To Addiction Treatment Under Trump

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

When he was running for president, Donald Trump¹ talked about the country's opioid epidemic².

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: As I campaign across this country, I hear so many stories and pleas from women especially about drug addiction³ and opioid use.

MCEVERS: This week, he repeated a promise to deal with the epidemic. We're going to hear from two families who know a lot about addiction. They are watching closely to see what President Trump will do. NPR's Sarah McCammon reports.

SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE⁴: Cary Dixon has been speaking publicly about addiction for several years. Last year, then-President Obama invited her to join him at an event in Charleston, W.Va., focused on the growing opioid epidemic. She told him about the toll⁵ addiction can take on everyone in a family.

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CARY DIXON: We neglect our marriages. We neglect other children in our home who are thriving because all of our attention is focused on addiction and substance abuse.

MCCAMMON: Dixon's 29-year-old son has been fighting opioid addiction for years, maybe even since high school. At first, Dixon says it was hard to know how to help her son through several rounds of treatment and incarceration⁶.

DIXON: It's kind of like you're on a parallel track with them. You wait for the next crisis. You wait for the next phone call. You're upset when you don't get a phone call. You're just - you're desperate.

MCCAMMON: Dixon is 52 and a former nurse who now runs a business with her husband. They live in Huntington, W.Va., one of the cities hardest hit by the opioid epidemic in a state with the nation's highest rate of addiction-related deaths. Sitting by her crackling fireplace, Dixon says she voted for Democratic nominee⁷ Hillary Clinton, and she's worried about President Trump's talk of repealing⁸ Obamacare. She's especially concerned about preserving coverage⁹ for drug and alcohol treatment.

DIXON: I know that the Affordable¹⁰ Care Act needs tweaked, but to be repealed¹¹ and to lose the gains that we've made would be harder on our community. You know, we're trying to dig out of this hole anyway.

MCCAMMON: West Virginia expanded Medicaid under the ACA. More than 200,000 West Virginians have been added to the public insurance roles - a big number in a state with less than 2 million people. Dixon's friend Bob Hardin shares her concern. They met through a support group for family members. His son has struggled with alcoholism for decades. Hardin has mixed feelings about the ACA, but he worries about any change to federal policy that would take away access to addiction treatment.

BOB HARDIN: It works sometimes, but sometimes it doesn't. But that's - at least it's there. It's like you get a wound in your arm, you've got a hospital to go to. You get sewed up. You've got a better chance of that wound healing if you have something to go to like that.

MCCAMMON: Hardin, who's 73, wrote in Republican Governor John Kasich of Ohio on his ballot¹² in November, but he hopes Trump can work with Congress to deliver on his promise to put more Americans back to work. Hardin thinks more jobs might help people here keep busy and off of drugs and alcohol. Hardin spent years working in Baltimore before returning to Huntington, and he's seen West Virginia's coal-dependent economies shrink while the opioid epidemic has grown.

HARDIN: The change is phenomenal, though, from when I left here and when I came back. And it's a tough place to get a job.

MCCAMMON: President Trump has also promised to stem the flow of opioids into the U.S. by building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Both Hardin and Dixon are skeptical¹³ of that idea.

DIXON: A wall is not going to stop them from doing what they do, and if you build a wall, they will adapt.

MCCAMMON: Dixon says West Virginia will be looking to the Trump administration for practical things, like more beds in drug treatment facilities to help people like her son. Sarah McCammon, NPR News.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

3 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

6 incarceration   

n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭

参考例句：

• He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中，他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
• Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你，请你将这颗心释放出来吧！否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句

7 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

8 repealing   

撤销，废除( repeal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• In addition, repealing the alternative minimum tax would also help. 此外，废除替代性最低税也会有所帮助。
• Repealing the investment tax credit. 取消投资税款扣除。

9 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

10 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

11 repealed   

撤销，废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The Labour Party repealed the Act. 工党废除了那项法令。
• The legislature repealed the unpopular Rent Act. 立法机关废除了不得人心的租借法案。

12 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

13 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。