Washington, D.C. – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released a report critical of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).  Wasted in the War on Drugs: Office of National Drug Control Policy’s Wasted Efforts takes the ONDCP to task for functioning inefficiently and failing to achieve its core objectives. 

“Billions of dollars marked for the war on drugs are being wasted on ineffective and counterproductive policies,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said. 

The ONDCP was established in 1988 by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act.  It funds four primary programs:  High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA), the Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center (CTAC), the Drug Free Communities Program, and the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.  Created to reduce marijuana use, the media campaign has been the target of lawsuit concerning the integrity of the ad agency, a government report detailing the failure of the campaign, and a study showing that the ads have a reverse effect.  Despite all this, Congress is planning to spend $120 million on the program in fiscal 2007.

The federal government’s war on drugs includes tracking down and persecuting patients using medicinal marijuana in states where it is legal.  Even though numerous studies have challenged the assertion that marijuana use is a gateway drug.  The federal government’s obsession with marijuana continues as the problems with methamphetamine and cocaine worsen.

As it happens, Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) could propose an amendment tomorrow to the fiscal 2007 Science-State-Justice-Commerce Appropriations Act.  The amendment would prohibit the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) from using resources to pursue medical marijuana patients in states that have deemed it to be legal. 

“The federal government must re-prioritize its drug policies,” Schatz concluded.

Wasted in the War on Drugs can be found at www.cagw.org.  It is part of CAGW’s series of Through the Looking Glass reports.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.