Pubdate: Sat, 30 Aug 2014
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Christopher Ingraham
Page: A2
Note: Excerpted from Wonkblog, at washingtonpost.com/wonkblog.

NEW DRUG CZAR EXPECTED TO CONTINUE PUBLIC HEALTH FOCUS

The White House officially nominated Michael Botticelli on Thursday 
to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which is charged 
with overseeing and administering federal drug policy.

The White House has been moving toward dealing with drug use as a 
public health issue, rather than a criminal justice one. And the 
nomination of Botticelli, a recovering alcoholic, might be the most 
significant sign of that shift to date.

The ONDCP's budget, however, offers a different perspective on the 
office's priorities. Since 2003, the ONDCP budget has grown from 
roughly $17 billion to $25 billion annually. This represents a growth 
of about 48 percent, which is less than the 69 percent increase in 
total federal spending over the same period.

ONDCP breaks its spending down into two broad categories: "demand 
reduction," which encompasses prevention and treatment programs; and 
"supply reduction," which includes law enforcement efforts, 
anti-smuggling operations and international operations. When people 
talk about a shift from a criminal justice to a public health focus, 
they're talking about a shift from supply reduction to demand reduction.

The budget numbers show that there hasn't been much change on that 
front in the past 10 years. In 2003, treatment and prevention 
activities accounted for 42 percent of the ONDCP's budget. In 2014, 
they made up 40 percent.

In raw dollar terms, spending on drug treatment has nearly doubled 
over the same period. Spending on prevention activities - such as the 
infamous anti-drug public service announcements of past decades - has declined.

On the criminal justice side, spending on domestic law enforcement 
activities has risen from $6.7 billion to $9.3 billion. A big chunk 
of that - $3.5 billion - goes to the federal prison system for 
incarcerating drug offenders. In 2013, these funds accounted for 
fully half of the Bureau of Prisons' budget.

So, on the one hand, yes, it's true that more federal dollars are 
going toward drug treatment. On the other hand, treatment and 
prevention account for less than half of federal drug spending, most 
of which still goes toward law enforcement efforts.

This is vexing to drug policy reform advocates such as Tom Angell of 
the Marijuana Majority, who says ONDCP's "actual drug control 
spending continues to emphasize failed policies of arrests, 
punishment and interdiction over effective strategies like treatment 
and prevention. It's time for ONDCP to walk the walk, and not just 
talk the talk."

But Kevin Sabet of the Smart Approaches to Marijuana project says 
it's easy to read too much into ONDCP's budget numbers. He says ONDCP 
is just one voice among many when it comes to allocating these funds, 
and that Congress and the various federal agencies represented in the 
ONDCP's budget also play a big role in deciding how they get spent.

"Much more important than looking at the numbers is looking at the 
strategy," Sabet said. "It's about looking at what the director [of 
the ONDCP] is doing and saying on a day-to-day basis."

Sabet says that with the full nomination of Botticelli to the 
directorship, "you're going to hear that emphasis on public health even more."

Regardless of how the ONDCP perceives its duties, it faces a daunting 
task. The overall goal of the office is to achieve a 15 percent 
reduction in the rate of drug use from 2010 to 2015. Between 2003 and 
2012, ONDCP spending increased by 41 percent. But the rate of illicit 
drug use rose a full percentage point over that same period, from 8.2 
percent of the population in 2003 to 9.2 percent in 2012.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom