Office of National Drug Control Policy Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Gupta: Biden To Focus On Opioids For State Of The Union Speech

Controlling fentanyl and reducing overdose deaths are expected to be a big part of President Biden’s State of the Union address according to Dr. Rahul Gupta, the former state health officer for West Virginia and now the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

During a press call before the speech, he discussed the overdose death rate.

“More than 100,000 Americans die from drug overdose or poisonings,” Gupta said. “That’s an American dying every five minutes of every hour of every day.”

Gupta said, in the last year, officials have seized nearly 15,000 pounds of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, at the border.

“Domestically, we’ve seized 26,000 pounds of fentanyl, and denied nearly $9 billion of profits for drug traffickers,” he said. “And because of these efforts, combined with our historic public health advances, we’ve now seen five straight months – five straight months – where all those numbers have decreased. That’s almost 3,000 people who have not died, and instead are at the dinner table each night.”

Gupta said Biden will lay out a plan to continue to fight the problem.

“We’re going to build on the historic progress we’re making by using advanced technology to stop more fentanyl at the border and working with commercial package delivery companies to catch more packages containing fentanyl,” he said. “And we’re gonna work with Congress to permanently control fentanyl related substances so we can make sure that traffickers are held accountable.”

Gupta said Biden will launch a national campaign with Ad Council to educate young people on saving lives from the dangers of fentanyl and ensure that everyone who needs treatment for substance use disorder – including people who are incarcerated at higher risk for overdose death when they’re released – gets it. He said they also plan to expand access to life saving medications for opioid use disorder.

Separately, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., joined a bipartisan, bicameral group urging Biden to restore the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to a cabinet-level position. It was downgraded during the Obama administration.

Elevating the post would enable ONDCP to more effectively coordinate drug control efforts across federal agencies and enhance the Biden administration’s response to the opioid epidemic.

As a senator, Biden supported the ONDCP Director’s serving at the cabinet level.

Marino Withdraws from Consideration to Lead National Drug Control Policy Office

After national scrutiny, Pennsylvania Representative Tom Marino has withdrawn from consideration to lead the National Drug Control Policy office – a position commonly called the Drug Czar. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who has been vocal about his disapproval of the nomination, applauded the move.

The announcement comes just days after an article was released by The Washington Post and CBS’s “60 Minutes” reporting Marino sponsored a 2016 law that weakened the Drug Enforcement Administration’s authority to stop companies from distributing opioids in already devastated areas.

Senator Manchin told reporters in a press call he would like to see President Donald Trump nominate someone who’s in the medical field and who may have dealt with the epidemic first-hand.

“I would say the perfect person would be somebody that has the passion to fight it and cannot be swayed by all the influence, or all the money, or anything else that has swayed people before from doing their job here,” Manchin said.

President Trump told reporters Monday he would consider withdrawing his nomination, but Marino beat him to the decision.

In a letter to Trump, Manchin called the opioid crisis “the biggest public health crisis since HIV/AIDS.” West Virginia is number one in the nation for most overdose deaths related to opioids.

Two W.Va. Counties Designated Drug Trafficking Areas

The federal government will provide additional help to two West Virginia counties to reduce drug abuse and drug trafficking.

Berkeley and Harrison counties are among 26 counties and cities in 11 states designated as high intensity drug trafficking areas.

Office of National Drug Control Policy acting director Michael Botticelli announced the designations on Monday.

The designation increases the counties’ access to federal resources and information sharing among federal, state and local law enforcement.

Seventeen other West Virginia counties previously were designated as high intensity drug trafficking areas.

Drug prevention money coming to W.Va.

Several Organizations in West Virginia that address drug abuse and mental health issues will get a boost from the federal government. Senators Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin today announced $733,068 in federal funding for community organizations across the state to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth in West Virginia.

The funding comes from the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Drug-Free Communities (DFC) grant program with support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

“It’s clear that our communities are in need of meaningful investments in prevention efforts targeted at reducing substance abuse among our youth,” said Rockefeller.

“SAMHSA and ONDCP helped establish drug take-back day and prescriber training in our state, which are strong steps toward keeping prescription drugs and illegal substances from falling into the hands of our young ones. I’m so glad this grant funding was awarded in our state – it will help build on these initiatives that are critical to the health and well-being of our youngest West Virginians,” he added.

“In West Virginia and across this country, substance abuse has become one of the most critical problems facing our communities, our families and our children,” said Manchin.

“We have a responsibility – especially to our future generations – to combat this national drug abuse epidemic head on. I am pleased that the FDA has recently announced their plans to reschedule hydrocodone combination drugs, which are in highly addictive painkillers like Vicodin and Lortab. Every step we take to make sure these drugs don’t get into the wrong hands is a step toward curbing substance abuse. This program will add to the FDA’s recent efforts and will focus on bringing our communities together to address this serious challenge to facilitate drug prevention efforts.”

Two coalitions received new funding awards including:

$108,222 – West Side Ward 4 Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition – Institute, W.Va.: The funding will be used by the coalition to increase efforts that aim to reduce prescription drug abuse and marijuana use among youth.
$124,846 – Kanawha Communities That Care – Charleston, W.Va.: The funding will be used by the coalition to establish and strengthen collaboration with local entities aimed at preventing and reducing substance abuse among youth.

Four West Virginia coalitions received $125,000 awards for their ongoing efforts to reduce prescription drug abuse:

Ohio County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition – Wheeling, W. Va.
Advocates for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) – Weirton, W. Va.
Morgan County Partnership, Inc. – Berkeley Springs, W. Va.
Jackson County Anti-Drug Coalition – Ripley, W. Va.