White House Proposes Cutting Drug Control Office Funding by 95%

[elleng]

'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 about 95 percent, to just $24 million from $388 million. The cuts would mean the office could lose up to 33 employees.

The 2018 budget would also eliminate grant programs administered by the drug control office. Those include the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program and the Drug-Free Communities Support Program, which, according to the document, the Trump administration thinks are duplicative with other federal and state programs.

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.'>>>

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

[Norbert9]

1. I'm not defending anything, but cutting $360 million and only losing 33 employees sounds

Weird, to say the least.

Does this mean they won't have the resources to enforce federal marijuana laws?

[Sinistrous]

2. From the OP: I believe the $360m includes funding for many grants funded

and managed by this office.

[BeyondGeography]

3. He had single-issue voters who actually trusted him on this

Desperate parents taken advantage of by the con man.

[Jno_Gilmor_]

4. I'm not sure I see this as a bad thing? The Obama adm. focused on treating addiction,

I see the Trump adm., particularly Sessions, advocating more for just locking people up.