President Donald Trump said Tuesday his nominee to be thenation’s drug czar, Tom Marino, withdrew from considerationfollowing reports that he pushed legislation making it harder forthe government to combat the opioid crisis.

“Rep. Tom Marino has informed me that he is withdrawing his namefrom consideration as drug czar,” Trump said on Twitter, callingthe Pennsylvania Republican “a fine man and a greatCongressman!”

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Marino faced growing opposition from key lawmakers, includingWest Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, after reports by theWashington Post and “60Minutes” highlighting his role in supporting the Ensuring PatientAccess and Effective Drug Enforcement Act. The law, which wasbacked by large drug companies, made it harder for theDrug Enforcement Administration to pursue enforcement actions onopioids.

The reports found that political action committees representingthe drug companies contributed almost $100,000 to Marino’scampaigns as he pushed legislation to weaken DEA’s enforcementability.

Every day, 91 people in the U.S. die from overdoses of opioidssuch as prescription painkillers and heroin. In 2015, therewere about 15,000 total deaths from overdoses of prescriptionopioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention.

Many more are addicted to the drugs. The CDC estimates that in 2014, 2million Americans abused or were dependent on prescriptionopioids.

Trump called the U.S. opioid epidemic a nationalemergency in August, but has yet to formally declare it one -- astep that would open up federal resources and powers likenegotiating for lower prices for overdose-reversal drugs,according to an interim report on the drug crisis.

Trump said Monday he planned to declare the opioid crisis anational emergency next week. But his selection of Marino asdrug czar faced opposition from Democratic senators, includingthose in states most effected by the opioid crisis. Manchin, whowas one of the most outspoken critics of Marino, called on Trump towithdraw the nomination.

“Over my dead body will he be the drug czar,” Manchin saidTuesday morning on CNN, before Trump’s announcement. “We have gotto have someone who is passionate and Congressman Marino is notthat person.’’

Manchin said after the announcement that he looked forward toworking with Trump to find a new director of the Office of NationalDrug Control Policy.

Trump, who said last week that Marino was going to be “amazing’’as drug czar, began to express some doubt after the newsreports.

“I did see the report. We’re going to look into the report andwe’re going to take it very seriously,’’ Trump told reportersduring a press conference on Monday. “I will speak to him and I’llmake that determination. And if I think it’s one percent negativeto doing what we want to do, I will make a change, yes.’’

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