With Biden Team Focused On Other Crises, Experts Say Drug Epidemic Is Exploding
at 9:18 am NPR
In the weeks after winning the November election, Joe Biden began naming officials to tackle the vortex of crises his administration would face on day one.
There was a team for the coronavirus, a team for climate change, a team for racial justice and a team for the stricken economy.
But despite a soaring death rate from drug overdoses, which hit a grim new record in 2020, President Biden hasn t named permanent leaders for three key agencies tasked with tackling the drug epidemic: the Food and Drug Administration, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
With Biden Team Focused On Other Crises, Experts Say Drug Epidemic Is Exploding
By Brian Mann
January 29, 2021
In the weeks after winning the November election, Joe Biden began naming officials to tackle the vortex of crises his administration would face on day one.
But despite a soaring death rate from drug overdoses, which hit a grim new record in 2020, President Biden hasn’t named permanent leaders for three key agencies tasked with tackling the drug epidemic: the Food and Drug Administration, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“It’s a front burner issue on any day of the week but not on this day,” Reuben Guttman, an expert on drug policy who teaches at Emory Law, said last week in an interview with NPR. “And that’s a real problem.”
Listen • 3:08
President Joe Biden speaks about the coronavirus pandemic in the State Dining Room of the White House on Tuesday.
In the weeks after winning the November election, Joe Biden began naming officials to tackle the vortex of crises his administration would face on day one.
But despite a soaring death rate from drug overdoses, which hit a grim new record in 2020, President Biden hasn t named permanent leaders for three key agencies tasked with tackling the drug epidemic: the Food and Drug Administration, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Administration. It s a front-burner issue on any day of the week but not on this day, Reuben Guttman, an expert on drug policy who teaches at Emory Law, said last week in an interview with NPR. And that s a real problem.