FACT SHEET: Administration’s Drug Control Budget Represents Balanced Approach to Public Health and Public Safety

For the first time in the history of the Office of National Drug Control Policy demand and supply reduction efforts are funded at similar levels.

Washington, D.C. – Today, Michael Botticelli, Director of National Drug Control Policy, announced drug-related requests in the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2017 Budget.  The President’s Budget, submitted to the U.S. Congress today, represents the first time in the history of the Office of National Drug Control Policy that federal funding to reduce the demand for drugs is funded at similar levels as funds to reduce the supply of drugs.  The Administration’s request contains $15.8 billion in Federal funds for reducing drug use in the United States for fiscal year 2017 through prevention and treatment programs – an increase of nearly $1.1 billion over the fiscal year 2016 enacted level.  Combined with supply reduction funding, a total of more than $31.1 billion dollars is requested for Federal drug control programs for 2017.

“The President’s 2017 Budget calls for our country’s largest investment in treating and preventing substance use disorders in history,” said Michael Botticelli, Director of National Drug Control Policy. “By funding public health and public safety efforts at near-identical levels, this budget demonstrates the Obama Administration’s ongoing commitment to a balanced approach to drug policy. The Budget recognizes how important it is to expand access to prevention, treatment, and recovery support services so we can prevent youth substance use, provide treatment to those in need, and sustain long-term recovery.” 

The $31.1 billion drug funding request supports supply and demand reduction activities, including the major drug control functions below: 

• $14.3 billion for treatment activities, a nearly eight percent increase over the FY 2016 enacted funding level.
• $1.5 billion for prevention activities, a 3.2% increase over the FY 2016 funding level, which funds the ONDCP Drug-Free Communities program and prevention services supported by the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant program.  
• $9.5 billion for domestic law enforcement activities, including $2.0 billion for the Drug Enforcement Administration, $501.1 million for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $522.1 million for Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, $174.3 million for High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, and $43.2 million for federal law enforcement training.
• $4.1 billion for interdiction, including $2.4 billion for Customs and Border Protection and $1.3 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard.
• $1.6 billion for international funding, including $467.8 million for the Drug Enforcement Administration and $382.4 million for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.

As announced last week, the budget includes $1.1 billion in new funding to address the prescription opioid abuse and heroin use epidemic. $1 billion in mandatory new funding is being requested to help people with an opioid use disorder seek treatment, successfully complete treatment, and sustain long-term recovery.  A further $90 million is being requested to expand state-level prescription drug overdose prevention strategies, increase the availability of medication-assisted treatment programs, improve access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, and support targeted enforcement activities.  For more information on opioid initiatives in the President’s Budget, click here. 

Data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) indicate that the overall rate of current drug use among Americans 12 and older has been increasing gradually over the past 12 years, from 8.3 percent in 2002 to 10.2 percent in 2014—an increase of 23 percent.  This increase is driven by an increase in marijuana use, rising from 6.2 percent in 2002 to 8.4 percent in 2014—an increase of 35 percent.  However, other categories of drug use have declined over this period of time, including cocaine (33%) and misuse of pain medications (24% since its peak in 2009).  

In 2015, the Obama Administration released the annual National Drug Control Strategy, the White House’s primary blueprint for drug policy in the United States.  The Strategy builds on the Administration’s record of drug policy reform by outlining a series of actions that will continue to expand health interventions and “smart on crime” alternatives proven to reduce drug use and its consequences in America.  The Strategy also notes significant increases in heroin and prescription drug abuse as key challenges and highlights a series of actions currently underway to reduce the impact of the opioid epidemic in the United States.

For more information, visit obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/ondcp
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To view the FY2017 Funding Highlights, please click here

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy seeks to foster healthy individuals and safe communities by effectively leading the Nation’s effort to reduce drug use and its consequences.

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