White House Proposes Cutting Drug Control Office Funding by 95%

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

By ALAN RAPPEPORT MAY 5, 2017

WASHINGTON — When he was running for office, Donald J. Trump promised to rid America of the scourge of drugs, vowing to crack down on dealers and invest heavily in programs to get heroin and other opioids off the streets.

But on Friday, President Trump’s administration revealed plans to gut the 2018 budget of his Office of National Drug Control Policy. According to an Office of Management and Budget document obtained by The New York Times, the White House is proposing to slash the drug policy office budget by about 95 percent, to just $24 million from $388 million.

The cuts would mean the office could lose up to 33 employees. The budget would also eliminate grant programs it administers, including the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program and the Drug-Free Communities Support Program. According to the document, the Trump administration thinks the programs are duplicative of other federal and state initiatives.

The proposal was rebuked by Republicans and Democrats as a potentially reckless move. Rich Baum, the acting drug czar appointed by Mr. Trump, expressed anguish about the cuts in an email sent to the office’s staff on Friday.

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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/us/politics/white-house-proposes-cutting-drug-control-office-funding-by-95.html?_r=0

[TeamPooka]

1. Gotta feed that private prison industry. nt

[Achilleaze]

4. + 1,000 -

Private prisons, inc. are a republican profit center.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. I second that opinion.

Better to have more people hooked on drugs, have them loose their lives or liberty rather than help them get off drugs and find productive lives. Better for private prisons to make profits than to lose money for "vacancies".

[Historic NY]

2. Another broken promise.

[jmowreader]

3. Sessions is currently losing his shit

"But Mister President, how am I supposed to fight the Scourge of Merry-Jew-Wanna if'n you take away all my Merry-Jew-Wanna-fightin' money?"

[Vinca]

5. This would have been like Ike stopping production of the Salk vaccine during the polio epidemic.

The opioid problem is very real and very deadly. Every day there's a tally on the news of the number of overdoses and deaths around our little state. This is inhumane even by Trump standards.

[greatauntoftriplets]

6. Sound like Herr drumpf is making money on the drug trade.

[dalton99a]

10. Wouldn't doubt that one bit

[mopinko]

13. laundering drug money.

mafia money.

[Blue_Adept]

8. I see this more as a consolidation of power

Eliminate more and more offices and places of structure and operation within the government, draw everything that remains closer.

[samnsara]

9. anguish???? That man feels NO anguish!

[dalton99a]

11. It's bullshit

just like everything else that comes out of the Trump regime

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Doesn't this office also relate to what Crispy Creme was supposed to be advisor for?

But then maybe they are robbing Peter to pay Paul -

<...>

The proposed Trump budget (PDF) released this month highlighted a $500 million increase from above 2016 levels to expand opioid misuse prevention efforts and to increase drug treatment. It is unclear if that increase would be from additional funds, or if it would be from money made available through the 21st Century Cures Act, which President Barack Obama signed in December. That legislation provides $1 billion for drug treatment for fiscal years 2017 and 2018.

<...>

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/29/health/christie-opioid-trump-appointment/

[tenorly]

14. Trump's BFF Joseph Weichselbaum must be pleased.

[Stonepounder]

15. You don't get it. He's going to institute the Philippines model. n/t