The use of Narcan to help fight the local drug epidemic, shown above when police and medics were called to assist people passed out on a porch last year, has helped with overdose deaths, but it is also a stigmatized medicine called "a temporary fix."

BEDMINSTER, New Jersey — President Donald Trump is officially declaring the opioid crisis a “national emergency.”

Trump made the announcement before holding a security briefing Thursday at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.

He tells reporters the drug crisis afflicting the nation is a “serious problem the likes of which we have never had” and says he’s drawing up documents “to so attest.”

A drug commission convened by Trump recently called for a national emergency declaration to help deal with the opioid crisis.

An initial report from the commission says the approximately 142 deaths each day from drug overdoses mean the death toll is “equal to September 11th every three weeks.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price earlier this week seemed to suggest the president was leaning against the recommendation when he said the administration could deploy the necessary resources and attention without declaring a national emergency.

Still, Price stressed that “all things” were “on the table for the president.”