Trump administration’s drug policy priorities unveiled

The Office of National Drug Control Policy released the Trump Administration’s Drug Policy Priorities, which lay out the administration’s plan for its first year.

It lays out 6 priorities:

1. Reduce the Number of Overdose Fatalities, with a Focus on Fentanyl: This includes harm reduction efforts including increasing availability of naloxone and drug test strips, educational campaigns on overdose prevention, and diverting people from incarceration to supportive services. However, it also includes pursuing “the harshest available penalties” for those who sell fentanyl that results in overdose deaths.
2. Secure the Global Supply Chain Against Drug Trafficking: This includes law enforcement and regulatory actions with other countries to address global drug trafficking, including exercising the administration’s “economic powers to demand change” when other countries “fail to take action.”
3. Stop the Flow of Drugs Across our Borders and into Our Communities: This includes enhancing border security to prevent the smuggling of drugs into the U.S., with the goal of decreasing the domestic availability. The administration will use “both punitive and economic” measures and will “hold states and localities accountable for committing appropriate resources” to these efforts. The administration “will prosecute those individuals responsible for disseminating drugs within our communities and pursue severe penalties against the most culpable actors.”
4. Prevent Drug Use Before It Starts: This includes educational campaigns and evidence-based prevention programs in schools and communities, including building resilience in youth and promoting healthy behaviors. The administration will also use social media to educate on dangers, overdose prevention, and treatment and recovery services.
5. Provide Treatment That Leads to Long-Term Recovery: The administration will ensure effective, timely, and evidence-based treatment is available to all who need it. This includes expanding access to medications for opioid use disorder, improving integration of mental health and recovery support services, and strengthening the peer recovery support workforce and infrastructure.
6. Innovate in Research and Data to Support Drug Control Strategies: The includes collecting and analyzing data to inform policy and modernizing technologies/systems for data collection and sharing. The administration will monitor trends to identify and address emerging threats.