National Drug Control Strategy forwarded to Congress

President Joe Biden has forwarded to Congress his administration’s first National Drug Control Strategy, which is an initiative focused on a whole-of-government approach to address the overdose epidemic.

“This Strategy goes after two big drivers of the opioid epidemic: untreated addiction and drug trafficking,” Biden said. “It’s time we treat addiction like any other disease. And at the same time, we are disrupting drug traffickers’ financial networks, supply chains, and delivery routes, including on the internet.”

The Strategy instructs federal agencies to prioritize actions that will save lives, get people the care they need, go after drug traffickers’ profits, and better use data to guide all these efforts.

The Strategy also directs federal agencies to expand efforts to prevent substance use among school-aged children and young adults while supporting community-led coalitions executing nationwide evidence-based prevention strategies.

“President Biden’s inaugural National Drug Control Strategy delivers on his Unity Agenda call to action to beat the overdose epidemic,” Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Dr. Rahul Gupta said. “It focuses on actions we must take to reduce overdoses right now. Those include expanding access to high-impact harm reduction tools like naloxone, quickly connecting more people to treatment, disrupting transnational criminal organizations’ financial networks and supply chains, and making better use of data to guide drug policy and save lives. This Strategy signals a new era of drug policy centered on individuals and communities.”

Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a physical toll on everyone and delivered greater behavioral health challenges.

“This Strategy continues to deliver on the Biden-Harris Administration’s promise to build back better – and healthier,” Becerra said.