Kellyanne will oversee opioid epidemic response, Sessions says (November)

[struggle4progress]

4. Chaotic war on drugs

Clarence Page

... In October, Trump declared a 90-day public health emergency over the opioid crisis but did not make new funding available to address it. The budget Trump is set to release Monday is expected to slash the drug office’s funding and pass much of its responsibilities to the Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice.

State and local law enforcement officials are fighting a Trump administration proposal to move the Office of National Drug Control Policy, also known as “the drug czar,” that oversees the $275 million drug prevention program to the Justice Department. Such a transfer, crime fighters fear, could shift federal anti-drug efforts too much toward legal crackdowns and away from community-based social and psychological services.

And in a great leap backward to the “Just Say No” policies of the Reagan era, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced a move away from the Obama-era policy of allowing states to set their own marijuana policy. Change must come from Congress, he says. In the meantime, federal raids and busts will continue, regardless of what the states want to do.

At the same time, Team Trump has reduced funding to the drug czar’s office. Trump nominated U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, a Pennsylvania Republican, to serve as its director. But Marino withdrew after it was revealed that he had pushed for legislation to hamper the DEA’s ability to go after overprescribing pharmaceutical companies ...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/page/ct-perspec-page-trump-opioid-drug-czar-jeff-sessions-20180211-story.html