BUDGET/DRUGS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: “State and local law enforcement officials are fighting a Trump administration proposal to move oversight of a $275 million drug prevention program to the Justice Department, fearing that such a move would steer the country’s drug-fighting strategy toward federal legal crackdowns and away from years of holistic, community-based approaches.
A draft budget plan by the Office of Management and Budget would place federal law enforcement officers in charge of the drug trafficking grants rather than the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which has served as the White House’s clearinghouse for drug strategy across the government and as a neutral arbiter in the historically territorial relationship between federal, state and local authorities.
The move would also effectively gut the drug office, whose influence has waned since President Trump took office. The office manages the grants, known as the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, sending millions of federal dollars to 28 task forces across the country, composed of state, local and federal law enforcement officers, who use the money to combat drug trafficking in their communities…
An Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman declined to comment on the proposed change but stressed that the drug office still had a place at the center of Mr. Trump’s drug strategy.”
-Ali Watkins, “Trump Plan to Move Drug Prevention Program to Justice Dept. Prompts Protests,” The New York Times online, Feb. 6, 2018