Trump administration’s drug strategy is at odds with recent actions on funding, policy

Health Trump administration’s drug strategy is at odds with recent actions on funding, policy Hard line on drug cartels, mixed signals on fentanyl test strips and other harm reduction Manage alerts for this article Email this article Share this article By Lev FacherMay 6, 2026 Addiction Reporter Lev Facher[email protected]Lev Facher covers the U.S. addiction and overdose crisis. The White House’s new strategy for addressing the nation’s drug crisis calls for a number of consensus public health measures: the overdose-reversal medication naloxone, medication-assisted treatment, and test strips used to detect fentanyl or other drug supply adulterants. But the May 4 document appears to run counter to many of the Trump administration’s latest drug policy actions. In particular, it comes just days after the administration issued new restrictions on using federal dollars to distribute test strips and warned against the use of medication-assisted treatment unless accompanied by other services, like counseling. Advertisement The document, issued each year by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, is the first to be released since the Senate confirmed Sara Carter, a former Fox News correspondent, to the role in January. True to Carter’s roots reporting on cartel smuggling activity, and Republican politics more broadly, the document emphasizes hardline actions like construction of a wall along the Mexican border, deporting drug traffickers, and the targeting of alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, which experts argue is illegal. Notably, the strategy makes no mention of syringe exchange, seen as an important tool in preventing infectious disease from injection drug use and offering low-barrier connections to medical treatment. Advertisement Consistent with the administration’s prior crackdowns on supervised consumption and test strips, the strategy does not use the phrase “harm reduction,” a strategy for helping reduce death and disease among people who use drugs, without demanding abstinence. The administration has redirected resources “toward transitional housing and treatment-focused programs [and] removing the enabling environment that allowed open-air drug use to fester in our cities,” according to the strategy document. To date, arguably the Trump administration’s most significant drug policy actions have come in diminishing the Substance Use and Mental Health Administration, for which the White House has never appointed a full-time leader. It has also canceled billions in funding, and then briefly canceled but soon reinstated roughly $2 billion more, issued through the agency. The administration’s Great American Recovery Initiative, backed by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathryn Burgum, the wife of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, has yet to produce significant funding or policy recommendations. “ASAM appreciates the National Drug Control Strategy’s laudable goal of increasing access to evidence-based treatment for people with substance use disorders,” Stephen Taylor, the president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, said in a statement after participating in a rollout event for the strategy on Wednesday. “The strategy rightly reinforces addiction as a chronic disease for which evidence-based treatments exist, including medication and psychosocial treatments that save lives and support recovery.” STAT’s coverage of chronic health issues is supported by a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Our financial supporters are not involved in any decisions about our journalism. addiction, chronic diseases, opioids, White House Submit a correction requestReprints Lev Facher Addiction Reporter Lev Facher covers the U.S. addiction and overdose crisis. Newsletter Understand how science, health policy, and medicine shape the world every day Recommended Politics May 6, 2026 STAT Plus: Administration report on most favored nation drug pricing raises new details — and questions Exclusive May 6, 2026 STAT Plus: Sanofi asks to pull diabetes drug out of FDA voucher program after political appointee interfered with review Advertisement Health May 6, 2026 Why the FDA is authorizing fruit-flavored vapes D.C. Diagnosis May 5, 2026 STAT Plus: A new attack on AMA’s billing codes Politics May 5, 2026 STAT Plus: Top lawmaker takes aim at doctor lobby, linking AMA’s billing codes to fraud fight Subscriber Picks