President Donald Trump's specially appointed panel on opioid abuse has released its recommendations on how to deal with the crisis.

The panel is calling for more treatment programs, tighter prescription guidelines and additional drug courts to help reduce overdose deaths. The battle plan stops short of calling for more money to fight an epidemic that kills nearly 175 people a day.

Opioid treatment expert Jeff Reynolds is among the critics who say the panel's opioid-fighting recommendations are good, but worthless without substantial funding to make them a reality.

The commission is leaving it up to Congress to determine how much, if any, federal funding will be earmarked to fight the opioid epidemic.

"Now, we're going to wait for a federal budget process that might wind into spring as we're losing more and more folks in droves," says Reynolds. "That's the part that's really difficult to understand and accept."

Long Island opioid treatment experts and families affected by the drug crisis say they will lobby their congressional representatives to fight for more funding.