(Bloomberg View) -- President Donald Trump’s initial bombasticcomments about North Korea last week overshadowed the event he washolding to highlight his administration’s efforts to fight opioid addiction.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to overshadow.

Trump failed to mention, much less embrace, any of therecommendations contained in a new report from his Commission onCombating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.

The commission, led by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, hasproduced some useful but too-small ideas for improving access totreatment, educating doctors, sharing data among states, andblocking the illegal drug trade.

The one proposal that Trump later embraced -- declaring anational emergency -- will matter only if it is followed up withbold actions and the funding to support them.

The commission’s assertion that the declaration will “awakenevery American” to the scourge of addiction gets it backwards.Americans have been crying out for leadership. It’s Washington thathas been asleep.

One of the most effective steps the federal government couldtake went unmentioned: treating addicts who end up behind bars. Each year,about one-third of heroin users spend time locked up, yet federalprisons do not offer medication-assisted addiction treatment.

There are humanitarian reasons to provide addicts with methadoneor buprenorphine, which can wean people off far more powerful anddeadly opiates, like heroin and fentanyl.

The withdrawal experience -- which can include vomiting,diarrhea, anxiety, insomnia and seizures -- is hellish, andoccasionally deadly.

But the best reason to provide treatment is that going coldturkey rarely cures the addiction. Ex-offenders are prone to resumeusing, often at levels their bodies can no longer tolerate.Overdoses are tragically common.

Imprisonment offers one of the best opportunities to treatopioid addiction. Programs have shown encouraging results wherethey have been tried -- including in New York City, where inmatesare connected to clinics after their release and report to them athigh rates.

The program has also helped reduce recidivism. Similarlypositive results have been seen in Australia. Yet only a few dozenof America’s more than 5,000 local jails and state prisons offeraddiction treatment.

Failing to do so also undermines recoveries for many people intreatment. It’s estimated that about 10 percent of Americansreceiving methadone treatment are locked up each year.

Some states and local jails have begun offering inmates a newdrug, Vivitrol, upon their release. It blocks opioids fromdelivering a high, but only for one month, and then ex-offendersmust continue taking it on their own. There is good reason to beskeptical about its effectiveness in preventing relapses.

Many politicians and law enforcement officials who have embracedVivitrol remain hung up on mistaken ideas: that withdrawal willcure addiction, that physical suffering will “teach them a lesson,”that jails should be drug-free zones, or that dispensing milderopiates in prison rewards criminals.

Vivitrol may prove to be effective for some.

But until the evidence is in, methadone treatment forincarcerated addicts should become the norm, rather than theexception.

The national emergency cannot be addressed without going insideprison walls.

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