CONGRESS/DRUGS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “An internal federal government watchdog told Congress on Thursday that it found the White House’s first drug control strategy out of compliance with legal requirements. The Government Accountability Office’s acting Director for Strategic Issues Triana McNeil told a panel of lawmakers the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s 2019 drug control strategy did not meet requirements set out in 2006 statute and the Trump-backed SUPPORT Act, which was enacted last fall…McNeil also suggested that GAO was having difficulty meeting with ONDCP staff and obtaining requested documents since the agency began evaluating the strategy. The administration released the 23-page document at the end of January, the first time the White House has released any sort of drug control strategy since Trump took office in 2017. The strategy provides a range of big-picture efforts but few details in terms of execution and measures of success. Efforts discussed in the strategy include implementing a nationwide public education campaign, addressing safe prescribing practices, expanding the use of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone and better utilizing drug courts. Critics of the strategy have scrutinized the lack of comprehensive analysis, measurable objectives and data. And while the Obama administration’s drug strategies regularly reached more than 100 pages, the Trump administration’s inaugural strategy is 23 pages long.”
–Maegan Vazquez and Nadia Kounang, “Federal watchdog: Trump’s drug control strategy doesn’t meet legal requirements,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, March 7, 2019 8:00 pm