Biden Administration To Reveal Comprehensive National Drug Control Strategy - White House

The Biden administration has sent to Congress its National Drug Control Strategy amid an epidemic of drug overdose deaths in the United States, the White House said on Thursday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2022) The Biden administration has sent to Congress its National Drug Control Strategy amid an epidemic of drug overdose deaths in the United States, the White House said on Thursday.

"Today, President Biden sent his administration's inaugural National Drug Control Strategy to Congress at a time when drug overdoses have taken a heartbreaking toll, claiming 106,854 lives in the most recent 12-month period. The Strategy delivers on the call to action in President Biden's Unity Agenda through a whole-of-government approach to beat the overdose epidemic," the White House said.

The strategy focuses on two of the epidemic's critical drivers - untreated addiction and drug trafficking - and instructs Federal agencies to prioritize actions that will save lives, get people the care they need and go after drug traffickers' profits.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 106,854 people in the United States died from drug overdoses between November 2020 to November 2021. The opioid epidemic is fueling drug overdoses with synthetic opioids and fentanyl caused almost 70 percent of drug overdose deaths over the past year.

Experts say that while drug deaths involving heroin have declined in recent months, deaths caused by drugs described as psychostimulants or synthetic opioids have almost doubled over the past 24 months.