The Drug Crisis Hasn’t Gone Away. The Trump Administration Should Confront It

It’s time to overhaul drug policies and strengthen America’s commitment to reducing and delegitimizing drug use.

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A man holds a dose of powder fentanyl before smoking it in an alleyway in Columbus, Ohio, November 20, 2024.

Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The federal government has long sought to prevent the horrors of drug addiction by interdicting the supply of dangerous psychoactive drugs — and reducing demand for them.

One step was the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. It established the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) within the Executive Office of the President. Headed by a director colloquially known as “drug czar,” ONDCP had the task of developing a national drug-control strategy to reduce drug use. Its creation symbolized a strong bipartisan effort to prevent illicit drugs from destroying lives and weakening the nation.

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About the Author

Bertha Madras

Bertha Madras is a professor of psychobiology at the Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital. She served as deputy director for demand reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and was a member of President Trump’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.

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About the Author

Paul J. Larkin

Paul J. Larkin is the Rumpel Senior Legal Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org).

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