The problem with the White House’s heroin program

With the country in the grips of a great American heroin relapse, the White House on Monday announced a new strategy to subdue the epidemic, pairing law enforcement officials with public health workers and deploying them in 15 states rife with opioid addicts.

The program, funded by $2.5 million from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is billed by the Obama administration as an example of the president’s emphasis on treatment, not jail, for drug users. But as word spread, one high profile critic attacked the plan as an attempt of co-op the rhetoric of reform without adopting the actual policies. Others, meanwhile, are unlikely to be impressed.

Thomas McLellan was President Obama’s chief scientist for drug control policy from 2009 to 2012, the person in charge of programs precisely like this one. He’s watched in horror as the death rate for heroin overdoses has quintupled since 2002, cutting through class and color lines to become as popular as crack cocaine in the 1980s—all without inspiring a major federal response.

“Our reply is $2.5 million?” an incredulous McLellan told msnbc. “That is not close to the financial commitment that is needed.”

“There are research-tested, cost effective public health and public safety measures that could reduce opioid use and related deaths, but not at this price,” he continued. “I hope they ultimately take this problem seriously and provide the commitment the public is looking for.”

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