The White House Office of National Drug Control Strategy recently released a new report as part of an inter-agency plan to combat prescription drug abuse. Director Gil Kerlikowske joins Newsmakers to explain the Administration’s position on the “growing epidemic.”
The plan requests additional funds for the next fiscal year, $123 million to fund drug prevention strategies and $99 million to be spent on treatment programs.
Also on the agenda is a coordinated effort by the U.S., Mexico and other nations in the war against drug gangs. While drug smuggling and narcotics seizures rose in 2009 and 2010, the violence by drug cartels has spread across the Mexican border into the U.S.