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| Friend, Today the White House released its National Drug Control Strategy outlining what the federal government will prioritize during the course of the Biden-Harris Administration. For the first time in history, harm reduction was included as a major pillar recognizing its crucial role in saving lives to curb the tragic overdose crisis. It calls for access and funding for naloxone, drug test strips, and syringe services programs, reducing barriers to life-saving medications and treatment, and decreasing the dramatic racial disparities in overdose and drug policy. We applaud the Biden-Harris Administration for taking this step forward which is due to years of advocacy led by DPA, our allies, and supporters like you. Ultimately, Congress will decide how to fund the drug strategy: tell them to prioritize harm reduction and overdose prevention in the federal budget. Although it’s encouraging to see this historic focus on harm reduction, its funding will only be a fraction of what's proposed for law enforcement which includes a major increase of $300 million to the Drug Enforcement Administration's more than $3 billion budget. The last time we saw a budget increase anywhere close to this big for the DEA was in 1987, right after the Anti-Drug Abuse Act was passed which created the framework for the modern drug war. More DEA funding is discouraging on many fronts and counterproductive to the administration’s goal of reducing overdose deaths and helping people who use drugs. We know criminalization and enforcement only exacerbate harms and saddle mostly Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people with criminal legal records and often incarceration, which increases their risk for infectious diseases, overdose, and death. With over 105,000 of our friends, family and neighbors' lives being lost to overdose the past year alone and the overdose crisis now costing the U.S. economy over $1 trillion annually, federal priorities must shift away from enforcement toward the evidence-based public health solutions that save lives. Thanks to your help, the White House just took a step in the right direction but there’s still so much work to do. Take action to help us push Congress to prioritize harm reduction and move away from drug war enforcement.
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