Waste at the Office of National Drug Control Policy

Established in 1988 to oversee all aspects of America’s war on drugs and to coordinate U.S. domestic and international anti-drug efforts, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has morphed into a federal wasteland, throwing taxpayer money toward numerous high-priced drug control programs that have failed to show results.
...Instead of curbing America’s drug problem, ONDCP has wasted $4.2 billion since fiscal 1997 on media advertising, fighting state legislation, and deficient anti-drug trafficking programs. ONDCP’s fiscal 2005 budget of $507 million will fund such diverse functions as local law enforcement, cracking down on medical marijuana use, drug research and treatment, and the eradication of coca crops in Latin America.
Many of ONDCP’s outreach efforts focus on reducing marijuana use. In fact, since Arizona and California passed medicinal marijuana laws in November 1996, ONDCP has been intent on reducing the popularity of marijuana in the U.S. The agency created the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign in 1998 just for that purpose. ONDCP also began campaigning against state ballot initiatives legalizing the use of medicinal marijuana, which is an infringement upon states’ rights, a blatant misuse of tax dollars, and in contravention of ONDCP’s original mission. The White House’s drug office should use its resources to root out major drug operations in the U.S. instead of creating propaganda-filled news videos and flying across the country on the taxpayers’ dime.