The plan of President Joe Biden’s administration focuses on increasing addiction treatment, greater access to naloxone (drug to combat overdoses) and more severe actions against drug trafficking.
Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said that to implement this strategy, Biden will ask Congress to approve three billion dollars as soon as possible.
Of that amount, according to Gupta, 300 million would go to the Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which in his opinion would help interrupt the transit of illicit substances across the border.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that in 2021 there were more than 106,000 deaths in this nation as a result of the abuse of illicit substances, mainly synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine.
The US media recognizes the failure of the different anti-drug initiatives of successive administrations, while the drug trade, consumption among people of all ages and, therefore, deaths and health disorders associated with them, prosper.
Experts point out that although internally it is a defeat for the United States, in terms of foreign policy it could be considered effective, because with that excuse Washington has managed to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations.
ef/car/avr