The CEO of MyPillow, an outspoken supporter of President Trump and recovering drug addict, is scheduled to attend a White House event focused on the opioid crisis, The Daily Beast reported.
Mike Lindell, who founded the pillow manufacturing company, told the news outlet that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway invited him to Wednesday’s event. The president is also expected to take part in the discussion, The Daily Beast reported.
Lindell told The Daily Beast that he first met Trump in August 2015 and shared with the then-candidate that he was a recovering crack cocaine addict.
{mosads}Conway said that the president is expected to sign a bipartisan bill on Wednesday aimed at fighting the opioid addiction crisis.
The bill passed the Senate, 98-1, earlier this month, with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) the only senator to vote in opposition.
The legislation lifts some limits on Medicaid paying for care at addiction treatment facilities, and cracks down on illicit opioids being imported by mail from other countries that add to the epidemic.
The bill passed the Senate, 98-1, earlier this month, with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) the only senator to vote in opposition.
A White House spokesperson confirmed to The Hill that Trump will deliver remarks and sign the legislation on Wednesday.
The discussion on the opioid crisis comes after Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Alex Azar said Tuesday that the number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have begun to level off.
“We are so far from the end of the epidemic, but we are perhaps, at the end of the beginning,” Azar said, according to The Associated Press.
More than 70,000 people died last year of drug overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the issue driven largely by the ongoing opioid epidemic.
–This report was updated at 2:23 p.m.