If Jeff Sessions Talked About Rogue Pharmacists the Way He Talks About Gangs

President Donald Trump declared the week of September 18 through 22 “National Gang Violence Prevention Week.” He also declared that week “Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week,” (President Obama made this same declaration last year). While the issues of gang violence and opioid abuse get to share a week together, the difference in how the Trump administration approaches each issue are quite stark. Here’s how Attorney General Jeff Sessions explained the declarations when addressing law enforcement officials in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania last week:

That first group, deemed deserving of prayer, can mostly be found in majority-white communities in states like West Virginia, the state where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in 2015. Of the top 20 counties for opioid deaths, half of them were in West Virginia, as were the top four counties for opiate overdoses, according to the CDC. Nearly 33,000 people died in the U.S. of opioid overdoses, which was four times higher than the number of people who died of the same cause 20 years ago.