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Obama seeks more funding to fight war on drugs
February 6, 2015 12:00
By Tracie Mauriello
WASHINGTON — President Ronald Reagan wanted people to just say no. Three decades later, President Barack Obama wants to give them the tools.
He is asking Congress for $133 million in new funding to fight heroin and prescription drug abuse.
The initiative emphasizes help to drug users, which is as important as combating the supply side by going after sellers, said David Hickton, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, who joined an administration press call Thursday to explain the president’s call for new drug policies.
“Even with the enhanced law enforcement efforts underway here and in other districts we cannot prosecute our way out of this problem,” he said. “We need to be as vigilant at attacking the demand part of this problem as we are attacking the supply side.”
He said it’s important to recognize that drug addiction is an illness and that drug traffickers are preying on sick people.
To help, the administration wants to make clear to drug courts that medication-assisted treatment can be appropriate, said Pamela Hyde, administrator of the substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Some judges have been requiring addicts to stop using methadone as a condition of participating in drug court programs that are an alternative to incarceration.
“If we can get the courts to rely on data-drive medical and science data … that will help,” said Mr. Hickton, who represented the Department of Justice on the call because of his work last year helping to produce a federal report on drug overdose and addiction.
The president’s funding request includes $18 million to study the use of medication-assisted treatment and expand access to such treatment.
It also includes $12 million to help states purchase naloxone and train first responders on its use. Naloxone is a drug used to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.
The request also includes $48 million to expand the Prescription Drug Overdose Program for States, currently funded at $20 million. The increase would provide grants to states for drug monitoring programs.
Another $10 million would be used to help states fight substance abuse through education, technical assistance and additional data capacity.
Mr. Obama also wants to spend $5.6 million to collect near real-time data from emergency departments on heroin-related overdose deaths and to improve quality of data by integrating information from death certificates and toxicology reports.
Continued here http://www.post-gazette.com/news/na...ng-to-fight-war-on-drugs/stories/201502060156
February 6, 2015 12:00
By Tracie Mauriello
WASHINGTON — President Ronald Reagan wanted people to just say no. Three decades later, President Barack Obama wants to give them the tools.
He is asking Congress for $133 million in new funding to fight heroin and prescription drug abuse.
The initiative emphasizes help to drug users, which is as important as combating the supply side by going after sellers, said David Hickton, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, who joined an administration press call Thursday to explain the president’s call for new drug policies.
“Even with the enhanced law enforcement efforts underway here and in other districts we cannot prosecute our way out of this problem,” he said. “We need to be as vigilant at attacking the demand part of this problem as we are attacking the supply side.”
He said it’s important to recognize that drug addiction is an illness and that drug traffickers are preying on sick people.
To help, the administration wants to make clear to drug courts that medication-assisted treatment can be appropriate, said Pamela Hyde, administrator of the substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Some judges have been requiring addicts to stop using methadone as a condition of participating in drug court programs that are an alternative to incarceration.
“If we can get the courts to rely on data-drive medical and science data … that will help,” said Mr. Hickton, who represented the Department of Justice on the call because of his work last year helping to produce a federal report on drug overdose and addiction.
The president’s funding request includes $18 million to study the use of medication-assisted treatment and expand access to such treatment.
It also includes $12 million to help states purchase naloxone and train first responders on its use. Naloxone is a drug used to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.
The request also includes $48 million to expand the Prescription Drug Overdose Program for States, currently funded at $20 million. The increase would provide grants to states for drug monitoring programs.
Another $10 million would be used to help states fight substance abuse through education, technical assistance and additional data capacity.
Mr. Obama also wants to spend $5.6 million to collect near real-time data from emergency departments on heroin-related overdose deaths and to improve quality of data by integrating information from death certificates and toxicology reports.
Continued here http://www.post-gazette.com/news/na...ng-to-fight-war-on-drugs/stories/201502060156
