Article snippet: President Donald Trump and his vice president came out this past week with initiatives that are not as big, bold or immediate as they appeared. Despite the drum-roll implied in Mike Pence's recent remarks to Christians, the U.S. is not suddenly walking away from U.N. humanitarian relief programs and switching all that money directly to persecuted religious groups. And Trump's action on the opioid epidemic counts on a powerful anti-drug punch from advertising, a feeble weapon at least in the past. A look at their statements and other rhetoric from the week: TRUMP on a planned ad campaign against the opioid epidemic: "I think that's going to end up being our most important thing. Really tough, really big, really great advertising, so we get to people before they start." — remarks Thursday. THE FACTS: He may prove history wrong, but past marketing efforts to scare young people from using drugs had poor results. More broadly, Trump's declaration of opioid overdoses as a public health emergency is not as consequential as it might sound. It does not bring new dollars to the anti-opioids fight. It does make it easier for the government to shuffle resources and make other changes, such as expanding access to medical services in rural areas. As for advertising, the government spent nearly $1 billion from 1998 to 2004 on a campaign to discourage illegal drug use by young people. A study financed by the National Institutes of Health concluded in 2008 that the campaign ... Link to the full article to read more