Biden Quietly Announces Harm Reduction Among His Drug Priorities

TOO QUIETLY! –

Feb. 4, 2021 – The White House seems to have done little to alert media to the changes. Drug Policy Alliance* Director of Media Relations Matt Sutton told Filter that National Public Radio (NPR) was the only outlet to have received the statement to his knowledge. Other mainstream publications appear to have been left in the dark, he suggested. At publication time, the notice cannot be found on ONDCP’s website.

“While our nation grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, we must also face the addiction and overdose epidemic that affects communities all over the country,” Moreno said in the statement. “I’m honored to be working to implement President Biden’s agenda, which will focus on saving lives by prioritizing public health approaches to substance use disorder, while finding ways to confront historic racial inequities in drug policy.”

The other three priorities are as follows: “Advancing recovery-ready workplaces and expanding the addiction workforce,” “Supporting evidence-based prevention efforts, related to both supply and demand reduction,” and “Expanding access to evidence-based treatment, including by lifting burdensome restrictions on medications for opioid use disorder.”