Obama Drug Strategy
Washington - The Obama administration's new drug strategy aims at shrinking the demand for illegal narcotics inside the United States, partly in recognition of how organized crime is profiting from the drug trade, while also pursuing partnerships with other countries.
Speaking in Washington May 11 ( http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/May/20100512162528xjsnommis0.8599774.html ), Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), said he and other Obama administration officials recognize the "imperative" of reducing U.S. drug consumption, and that the United States is "strongly committed to implementing a balanced strategy" in efforts to stem the flow and use of illegal drugs.
"Much of the organized crime is in fact outside [U.S.] borders, and we address that responsibility directly through the strong emphasis that we are placing on both prevention and treatment here at home," he said.
The national drug strategy ( http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/strategy/ ) puts more resources into prevention and treatment, including support for community-based anti-drug programs and efforts by health care providers to screen for drug problems before users become addicted. It also expands drug treatment beyond specialty centers into more mainstream health care facilities.
According to the strategy's executive summary, the emphasis on preventing drug use before it starts is "a cost-effective, common-sense way to build safe and healthy communities," citing research on adolescent brain development that shows "those who reach the age of 21 without developing an addiction are very unlikely to do so afterward."
The plan calls for reducing the rate of youth drug use in the U.S. by 15 percent by 2015, as well as similar reductions in the areas of chronic drug use, drug-induced deaths, and driving under the influence of drugs.
To strengthen international partnerships, the plan calls for joint law enforcement operations and the promotion of alternative livelihoods for coca and opium farmers throughout the world.
People and societies throughout the world "pay an immense toll" due to drug use, Kerlikowske said. The new U.S. drug-control strategy will not only help state and local governments inside the United States develop their own drug strategies, but can also provide assistance to other countries confronting the challenge.
"We invite the international partners to share in the lessons that the United States has learned about responding to drug use. Drug-treatment courts, community anti-drug coalitions in particular, can be very helpful," he said.
The ONDCP director cited a U.S. partnership with Mexican authorities in 2009 to open the country's first drug court in Monterrey, profiting from 20 years of experience in the United States in which the courts have helped reintegrate those involved in drug use back into U.S. society.
"The other thing that we learned, certainly from Mexico, is the number of prevention programs and the kits that they have put together for schoolchildren within that country to help them," he said.
He also pointed to U.S. funding for more than 700 community coalitions that provide local training and education to discourage drug use, and said those kinds of programs "can be successful to our foreign partners."
"The people that do that training have now traveled to a variety of countries in South America to talk about how you can build at the grass-roots level, at the community level, the prevention programs and a resistance to drug use that in the long run make cities and towns safer and, of course, make all of us safer here," he said.
In addition, the United States can provide technical assistance for drug treatment, interdiction, investigations and law enforcement cooperation, he said.
Kerlikowske said the Obama administration views drug use more as a public-safety and public-health problem than a criminal matter that emphasizes punishment and incarceration.
"We've been talking about a war on drugs for over 40 years. I don't think the American public sees a huge level of success - not that there hasn't been some - in a war on drugs. Calling it a war really limits your resources, and essentially the greatest resource in a war is some type of force," he said.
"We need to have a balanced and comprehensive approach to dealing with this rather than just the criminal-justice lens," the director said, and those are "the voices that you see reflected ... in President Obama's strategy."
