PRESIDENT BIDEN IS AWOL ON NATIONAL DRUG CRISIS
Joe Biden pledged during his campaign that as president he would launch an all-out effort to combat the opioid epidemic. Yet, after nearly 100 days in office, his administration has so far done remarkably little to address a national public health crisis that killed more than 87,000 Americans over the 12-month period that ended in September—a record death toll and a 29 percent increase over the same period the year before. While grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and pressing economic issues, the White House has unfortunately sidelined the opioid crisis, which continues to spin out of control. In San Francisco, for example, more people died last year from drug overdose than from the coronavirus. President Biden promised a $125 billion anti-opioid effort over the next decade, but has delivered only a $1.5 billion allocation through the American Rescue Plan for the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders.
We urge President Biden to show leadership on drug policy. For one, he must appoint a cabinet-level “drug czar” to oversee and coordinate federal initiatives. And in coordination with the CDC and other agencies, he could provide frequent briefings to the nation—similar to what was done during COVID—tracking the key metrics of the epidemic and efforts to bring it under control.
In addition, he could easily end the requirement that physicians obtain a special waiver in order to prescribe the addiction-withdrawal medication buprenorphine, an integral component of medication-assisted therapy (MAT). As only around 5 percent of practitioners currently have such a waiver, this poses a significant barrier to expanding treatment at a time when only 20 percent of people with opioid use disorder receive any services. Eliminating the waiver by itself won’t stop the epidemic, but it could slow the death toll by an estimated 30,000 lives a year. While an important first step, it still only tinkers around the edges of this tragedy, which requires massive federal spending and a comprehensive strategy to be brought under control.
MORE STATES IGNORE THE SCIENCE AND LEGALIZE MARIJUANA
The lesson we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is to “follow the science” when formulating public health policy. Yet, science is taking a back seat when it comes to state-level marijuana legalization. New York, New Mexico and Virginia are the latest to do so, choosing to disregard the growing body of scientific evidence detailing the harmful effects of the drug. In fact, legalization in New York coincided with the publication of a new study by the National Institute on Drug Addiction (NIDA) showing that, among teenagers, cannabis is nearly as addictive as prescription opioids—a finding that was ignored by the Albany lawmakers who crafted a law that lacks adequate health safeguards.
Legalization laws routinely focus on how such worthy goals as decriminalization and achieving social equity and criminal-justice reform could help communities disproportionately harmed by the failed War on Drugs. But all too often, these laws are weak on curbing underage use, limiting high levels of intoxicating THC in pot products and addressing the growing problem of drugged driving.
In some states, new legalization laws also make it more difficult for communities that don’t want retail dispensaries in their localities to opt out, for instance, by limiting the time they have to decide. Although polls show widespread support for legalization, more and more municipalities in legalized states are nevertheless saying no to having cannabis businesses in their neighborhoods, despite the loss of potential tax revenues from pot sales. They have weighed the risks and benefits of legalization, and have come down on the side of safeguarding public health.