Cascade of Reports Condemn Drug Czar's Office

With the Office of National Drug Control Policy's five-year reauthorization approaching in 2010, there's never been a better time to scrutinize the White House's "agency of accountability" in the nation's counterproductive drug war.

Without a doubt, the ONDCP needs new metrics for measuring the success of our nation's drug policy. Rather than measuring success based on slight fluctuations in drug use, the primary measure of ONDCP's effectiveness should be the reduction of drug-related harm. If ONDCP is reauthorized, it should be charged with reducing problems associated with drug use itself (overdose, addiction, disease transmission) and problems associated with drug prohibition (over-incarceration, collateral sanctions, loss of civil liberties, racial disparities in enforcement, prosecution and sentencing).