Own your ow legal marijuana business
Your guide to making money in the multi-billion dollar marijuana industry
Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy
Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs
Volume 3 - Public Policy Options

Chapter 20 - Public Policy In Other Countries - US

Federal drug policy goals and objectives

 

National drug-control policy in the United States purports to be based upon prevention, education, treatment and research, complemented by "supply reduction" activities.[1][232] To quote from the 2001 Annual Report of the Office of National Drug Control Policy ("ONDCP"):

 

Through a balanced array of demand-reduction and supply-reduction actions, we strive to reduce drug abuse and availability by half and the consequences of drug abuse by at least 25% by 2007. [2][233]

 

Using the metaphor of cancer for the nation’s drug problem, the ONDCP lists the following strategic goals and objectives as being the heart of American federal action in this area.[3][234]

 

 

Goal 1: Educate and enable America's youth to reject illegal drugs as well as alcohol and tobacco.

Objective 1:

Educate parents and other care givers, teachers, coaches, clergy, health professionals, and business and community leaders to help youth reject illegal drugs and underage alcohol and tobacco use.

Objective 2:

Pursue a vigorous advertising and public communications program dealing with the dangers of illegal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco use by youth.

Objective 3:

Promote zero tolerance policies for youth regarding the use of illegal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco within the family, school, workplace, and community.

Objective 4:

Provide students in grades K-12 with alcohol, tobacco, and drug prevention programs and policies that are research based.

Objective 5:

Support parents and adult mentors in encouraging youth to engage in positive, healthy lifestyles and modeling behavior to be emulated by young people.

Objective 6:

Encourage and assist the development of community coalitions and programs in preventing drug abuse and underage alcohol and tobacco use.

Objective 7:

Create partnerships with the media, entertainment industry, and professional sports organizations to avoid the glamorization, condoning, or normalization of illegal drugs and the use of alcohol and tobacco by youth.

Objective 8:

Develop and implement a set of research-based principles upon which prevention programming can be based.

Objective 9:

Support and highlight research, including the development of scientific information, to inform drug, alcohol, and tobacco prevention programs targeting young Americans.

Goal 2: Increase the safety of America's citizens by substantially reducing drug-related crime and violence.

Objective 1:

Strengthen law enforcement – including federal, state, and local drug task forces – to combat drug-related violence, disrupt criminal organizations, and arrest and prosecute the leaders of illegal drug syndicates.

Objective 2:

Improve the ability of High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTAs) to counter drug trafficking.

Objective 3:

Help law enforcement to disrupt money laundering and seize and forfeit criminal assets.

Objective 4:

Break the cycle of drug abuse and crime.

Objective 5:

Support and highlight research, including the development of scientific information and data, to inform law enforcement, prosecution, incarceration, and treatment of offenders involved with illegal drugs.

Goal 3: Reduce health and social costs to the public of illegal drug use.

Objective 1:

Support and promote effective, efficient, and accessible drug treatment, ensuring the development of a system that is responsive to emerging trends in drug abuse.

Objective 2:

Reduce drug-related health problems, with an emphasis on infectious diseases.

Objective 3:

Promote national adoption of drug-free workplace programs that emphasize a comprehensive program that includes: drug testing, education, prevention, and intervention.

Objective 4:

Support and promote the education, training, and credentialing of professionals who work with substance abusers.

Objective 5:

Support and promote the education, training, and credentialing of professionals who work with substance abusers.

Objective 6:

Support and highlight research and technology, including the acquisition and analysis of scientific data, to reduce the health and social costs of illegal drug use.

Objective 7:

Support and disseminate scientific research and data on the consequences of legalizing drugs.

Goal 4: Shield America's air, land, and sea frontiers from the drug threat.

Objective 1:

Conduct flexible operations to detect, disrupt, deter, and seize illegal drugs in transit to the United States and at U.S. borders.

Objective 2:

Improve the coordination and effectiveness of U.S. drug law enforcement programs with particular emphasis on the Southwest Border, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Objective 3:

Improve bilateral and regional cooperation with Mexico as well as other cocaine and heroin transit zone countries in order to reduce the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.

Objective 4:

Support and highlight research and technology – including the development of scientific information and data – to detect, disrupt, deter, and seize illegal drugs in transit to the United States and at U.S. borders.

Goal 5: Break foreign and domestic drug sources of supply.

Objective 1:

Produce a net reduction in the worldwide cultivation of coca, opium, and marijuana and in the production of other illegal drugs, especially methamphetamine.

Objective 2:

Disrupt and dismantle major international drug trafficking organizations and arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate their leaders.

Objective 3:

Support and complement source country drug control efforts and strengthen source country political will and drug control capabilities.

Objective 4:

Develop and support bilateral, regional, and multilateral initiatives and mobilize international organizational efforts against all aspects of illegal drug production, trafficking, and abuse.

Objective 5:

Promote international policies and laws that deter money laundering and facilitate anti-money laundering investigations as well as seizure and forfeiture of associated assets.

Objective 6:

Support and highlight research and technology, including the development of scientific data, to reduce the worldwide supply of illegal drugs.

 

 

 



[1][232]  National Drug Control Strategy: 2001 Annual Report, Office of National Drug Control Policy, page 3.

[2][233]  Ibid., page 4.

Library Highlights

Drug Information Articles

Drug Rehab