STAT+: Trump’s new drug policy mixes ‘harshest’ penalties for dealers and test strips for users
Exclusive: President Trump's drug policy takes an enforcement-first policy but also supports fentanyl test strips and addicition medications.
The Trump administration vows to emphasize addiction treatment alongside an enforcement-first drug policy, according to a not-yet-public strategy document obtained by STAT.
In an effort to reduce overdose deaths caused by fentanyl and other illicit substances, the administration plans to “disrupt the supply chain from tooth to tail,” according to the document, known as Statement of Drug Policy Priorities.
The outline, which consists of just over three pages of text, represents the first formal framing of the drug policy that the new Trump administration intends to pursue. And while it focuses in large part on enforcement, it also devotes substantial attention to drug use prevention, addiction recovery, medication-based treatment, and the opioid overdose antidote naloxone. It comes less than a week after President Trump said he was nominating Sara Carter, a former Fox News contributor with no government, law enforcement, or health policy experience, to lead the agency that authored the document: the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
