Office of National Drug Control Policy ONDCP

The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 created the Office of National Drug Control Policy to bring order to a drug-control effort spread across dozens of agencies, from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Customs to health and education programs. Its director, confirmed by the Senate and popularly known as the drug czar, has at times held cabinet rank and at other times not, depending on the administration.

The office writes the National Drug Control Strategy, reviews and certifies the drug-control budgets of other agencies, which together total tens of billions of dollars, and reports to Congress on progress. It also runs two grant programs directly: the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, which funds joint federal, state, and local task forces in regions with major trafficking, and the Drug-Free Communities program, which supports local prevention coalitions.

Its priorities have shifted with the drug problem itself, from cocaine and crack in its early years to prescription opioids, heroin, and, since the late 2010s, illicit fentanyl, which drove overdose deaths above one hundred thousand a year. Administrations have differed over the balance between enforcement and border control on one hand and treatment, prevention, and harm reduction on the other.