2012 National Drug Control Strategy Emphasizes Prevention, Treatment, Diversion (and Applauds Reclaiming Futures)
Speaking at this year's annual JMATE conference, the Office of National Drug Control Policy's David Mineta stressed the Administration's priority on drug prevention, treatment and diversion programs. "Addiction can be overcome and recovery is absolutely possible," he said. "And we need to make sure our young people have the brightest future possible. It's personal for us."
With the recent release of the 2012 National Drug Control Strategy [pdf], it's clear that the Administration plans to follow up Mineta's remarks with a strong policy strategy for reducing drug use and its consequences. In particular, the Strategy recommends diverting non-violent drug offenders into treatment, supporting reentry programs to help offenders rejoin their communities and bolstering innovative enforcement programs.
Writing in the White House Blog, Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius, U.S. Attorney General Holder and ONDCP Director Kerlikowske explain their multi-agency approach to reducing drug use and supporting recovery efforts:
Our emphasis on addressing the drug problem through a public health approach is grounded in decades of research and scientific study. There is overwhelming evidence that drug prevention and treatment programs achieve meaningful results with significant long-term cost savings. In fact, recent research has shown that each dollar invested in an evidence-based prevention program can reduce costs related to substance use disorders by an average of $18.
But reducing the burden of our Nation’s drug problem stretches beyond prevention and treatment. We need an all of the above approach. To address this problem in a comprehensive way, the President’s new Strategy also applies the principles of public health to reforming the criminal justice system, which continues to play a vital role in drug policy. It outlines ways to break the cycle of drug use, crime, incarceration, and arrest by diverting non-violent drug offenders into treatment, bolstering support for reentry programs that help offenders rejoin their communities, and advancing support for innovative enforcement programs proven to improve public health while protecting public safety.
In recognizing the potential of the criminal justice system in deterring/reducing/treating drug and alcohol addiction, the Strategy praises Reclaiming Futures for its work in addressing substance abuse and mental health problems among youth in the juvenile system:
JMATE 2012: Bad Kids or Hurt Kids? The Compelling Need for a Trauma Informed Juvenile Justice System
Starting in 2010, there's been a policy shift around drugs, addiction and treatment, and it could not have come at a better time, explained David Mineta (deputy director of demand reduction at ONDCP) at yesterday's JMATE plenary. More Americans are dying from drug use than from any other kind of accidental death, including car crashes and gun wounds. "This is a public health problem," stressed Mineta, before explaining that the ONDCP is prioritizing prevention, treatment and diversion programs in its forthcoming 2012 national drug control strategy. [editor's note: we'll share this as soon as it's out]
"Addiction can be overcome and recovery is absolutely possible," said Mineta. "And we need to make sure our young people have the brightest future possible. It's personal for us."
Following Mineta's moving keynote on addiction and prevention measures, Kris Buffington addressed the issue of trauma and its impact on adolescents.
Buffington explained that traumatic experinces can substantially impact biological, psychological and social development in youth. And unfortunately, symptoms associated with exposure to traumatic events are often misinterpreted as indicating a young person has a behavioral disorder.
What does the Super Committee's failure to reach agreement mean for the federal drug budget?
With the failure of the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to reach an agreement, an analysis conducted by Carnevale Associates, LLC that examines the effects of a $1.2 trillion sequestration (automatic cut), finds that the cuts will be much more detrimental to demand reduction programs than to supply reduction programs. The disproportionate impact on demand reduction programs may impede the Obama administration’s stated aim of implementing the public health approach promoted in its National Drug Control Strategy.
The reason for the disproportionate impact of the automatic cuts on demand reduction is due to how the federal drug control budget is prepared by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)—the federal agency charged by law with developing the national drug control strategy and the federal budget to implement it. Much more explanation of how ONDCP accounts for federal drug control spending may be found in a recent Policy Brief released by Carnevale Associates, LLC. Suffice it to say that because the majority of resources for drug control are estimates of federal drug control resources as opposed to direct congressional appropriation, and that these estimates tend to fall more on the supply side of the federal budget, the sequester has much more effect on direct appropriations for demand reduction programs.
