Trump Administration Unveils Drug Strategy Amid Cuts to Addiction Services and Medicaid

The White House’s newly released 195-page National Drug Control Strategy, published on May 4, outlines ambitious public health and law enforcement approaches to address the nation’s drug and addiction crisis. The strategy advocates for making treatment more accessible than drugs, preventing youth addiction, increasing support for recovery, and reducing overdose deaths.

Public health researchers, addiction treatment clinicians, and recovery advocates broadly support these goals. However, experts warn that achieving them will be difficult due to the administration’s actions, including mass layoffs of federal employees, cancellation of research and community grants, attacks on organizations serving people who use drugs, and cuts to Medicaid—the largest payer for addiction and mental health care in the U.S.

“Many components of the National Drug Control Strategy are things that we would agree with and that we fully support,” said Libby Jones, who leads overdose prevention efforts at the Global Health Advocacy Incubator. “But there are disconnects in what the strategy says is important and then what they’re actually going to fund. Those inconsistencies feel particularly loud in this strategy.”

The National Drug Control Strategy, released every two years, serves as the federal government’s coordinated approach to one of the country’s most pressing issues. Since 2000, more than 1.1 million people have died from drug overdoses. While recent deaths have declined, rates remain high, with disproportionate impacts on Black and Native American communities.

This strategy is the first of President Donald Trump’s current term and emphasizes law enforcement efforts to reduce the supply of illicit drugs. It repeatedly refers to the ongoing “war” against “foreign terrorist organizations”—the administration’s term for drug cartels—and highlights increased border enforcement. The plan also includes plans to implement artificial intelligence for screening illicit drugs at U.S. borders and wastewater testing to detect illegal drug use nationwide.

The second half of the strategy focuses on reducing demand through public health prevention, addiction treatment, and recovery support. It promotes the role of religion in recovery and calls for widespread use of overdose reversal medications like naloxone.

In a news release, the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy called the document a “roadmap” to “continue dismantling the drug supply and defeating the scourge of illicit drugs in our country.” The Trump administration did not respond to requests for comment on how the strategy aligns with its other actions.