Compiled by Drug Policy Alliance. Feb 2003.
Drug Czar John Walters may soon try to mislead Members of Congress, journalists, and the American public by fraudulently distorting the official federal drug war budget to make the drug war seem less costly to taxpayers and more balanced in depicting its drug treatment vs. prison spending.
In its 2002 Drug Control Strategy, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) stated that they would change the way they reported federal drug war expenditures. These changes are supposed to begin with the 2003 Drug Control Strategy to be released in February. While reported expenditures may radically change, actual expenditures will not.
The Drug Czar May Distort the True Cost of the Federal Drug War
The new 2003 Drug Strategy may show the federal government spending only about $11 billion dollars a year, when the real cost (more accurately reflected in last year’s drug strategy) is around $20 billion. ONDCP would do this, according to its own admission, by simply not counting expenditures by many agencies, even as it admits these agencies would remain important drug control agencies.
The Drug Czar May Stop Counting the Cost of Imprisoning Nonviolent Drug Offenders
ONDCP may reduce the official estimate of federal drug war costs by eliminating "agencies that mainly focus on the consequences associated with the activities of other primary counterdrug agencies." This will mean, among other things, not counting the costs of imprisoning non-violent federal drug offenders - about $3 billion a year.
The Drug Czar May Over-Report Treatment Expenditures
Although ONDCP may stop counting many law enforcement expenses it will continue to count most drug treatment and prevention expenses. It may also fraudulently increase the amount of federal drug treatment expenditures reported to Congress and the public by counting money spent reducing alcohol abuse, even though ONDCP does not deal with alcohol.
The Drug Czar May Distort the Amount Spent on Treatment vs. the Amount Spent on Law Enforcement
By reducing reported law-enforcement costs, eliminating reported prison costs, and artificially boosting reported drug treatment expenditures, John Walters may make the drug war look balanced. Although the actual drug war budget will remain grossly unbalanced (almost 70/30), the new Walters drug war budget may make the drug war appear almost balanced 55/45 between supply and demand efforts.
Recommendations: Congress should bar ONDCP from adopting these changes in how it reports drug war expenditures and develop procedures to ensure that the drug war budget is always based on facts- not politics.
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