Health

Trump moving to slash budget for White House ‘drug czar"

The Trump administration is moving to gut the office of the White House “drug czar” according to a preliminary budget document and an email message that its acting director has circulated to agency staff. The Office of National Drug Control Policy, or ONDCP, is the lead White House office shaping policy on the nation’s opioid crisis, among other responsibilities. The proposed $364 million cut would leave a budget of just $24 million for the office and would eliminate its two major grant programs.

We have a heroin and prescription drug crisis in this country and we should be supporting efforts to reverse this tide, not proposing drastic cuts to those who serve on the front lines of this epidemic. Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman

During the campaign, Trump vowed to combat the nation’s growing opioid epidemic, which has ravaged many of the rural areas and small working-class towns where the Republican drew a lot of support. And in March, Trump commissioned a new addiction task force to help combat the opioid crisis, tapping his friend and former rival New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to lead the fight. Trump’s new addiction commission is to work with local officials, law enforcement, medical professionals and addicts to improve treatment options, prevent people from getting hooked in the first place and stop the flow of drugs across the border. Trump signed an executive order formally establishing the commission, which is to be run under a new office helmed by Trump’s son-in-law and powerful adviser Jared Kushner.