Should the National Community Anti-Drug Coalition Institute Receive $2 Million in Appropriations Each Year? (H.R. 3889)

What is H.R. 3889?

(Updated April 3, 2020)

This bill — the ONDCP Technical Corrections Act of 2019 — would authorize $2 million in annual appropriations over the 2020-2024 period for the National Community Anti-Drug Coalition Institute. It would also make technical changes to certain laws related to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and its efforts to control drugs.

Argument in favor

The federal government needs to do everything it can to ensure that federal agencies are able to fulfill their responsibilities to address the opioid abuse crisis. This bill would address certain laws that reduce the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) ability to carry out its responsibilities.

Argument opposed

The Dept. of Health and Human Services, along with other federal agencies, is already doing all that it can to combat the opioid crisis. It’s not necessary to fragment efforts across the federal government further by funding even more separate offices to tackle this problem.

Impact

Drug policy; federal response to the opioid crisis; National Community Anti-Drug Coalition Institute; and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

Cost of H.R. 3889

The CBO estimates that implementing this bill would cost $2 million in 2020 and $10 million over the 2020-2024 period.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Rep. Rouda Harley (D-CA) introduced this bill to make needed changes to existing legislative language to improve the federal government’s response to the addiction crisis through the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP): 

“This year, Americans will lose close to 70,000 friends and loved ones due to a drug overdose. More Americans are now dying annually due to an overdose than at the height of the AIDS crisis or during the entire Vietnam War. No community is unaffected by this crisis. In my home of Orange County, California, drug and alcohol overdose deaths have increased by 82 percent since 2000. I’m grateful to Congressman Meadows and Oversight Committee members from both parties for working with me to help ONDCP fight the addiction crisis and save our constituents’ lives.”

Original cosponsor Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) adds: 

“Far too many men, women, and families across the country have suffered from the preventable spread of drug abuse. I know for me, the issue is felt right at home, with over 12,000 North Carolinians dying as a result of the epidemic since 1996. This has got to end—and we believe Congress has an opportunity to lead by helping establish standards that address both prevention and treatment. I want to thank my colleague, Harley Rouda, for his leadership on this issue—and I’m grateful we could introduce this bill to begin a process of seriously addressing this crisis that has impacted so many.”

This legislation passed the House Oversight and Reform Committee with the support of one cosponsor, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC). 

Of Note: The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, enacted in 2018, was a wide-ranging bipartisan bill aimed at addiction treatment, prevention, recovery, and enforcement. While the SUPPORT Act had provisions to authorize and reform the ONDCP (a component of the Executive Office of the President that plays a critical role in overseeing the federal government’s drug control efforts), there were several technical issues in the bill that should be fixed to ensure ONDCP can properly carry out all the SUPPORT Act’s provisions as Congress intended and improve the federal response to the opioid addiction crisis.

The National Community Anti-Drug Coalition Institute is the primary training and technical assistance provider for the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) support program. The Institute fulfills three goals: 1) to provide education, training, and technical assistance for coalition leaders and community leads, with an emphasis on coalitions in economically disadvantaged areas; 2) develop and disseminate evaluation tools, mechanisms, and measures to improve assessment and documentation of coalition performance measures and outcomes; and 3) bridge the gap between research and practice by translating knowledge from research into practical information.

In 2017, HHS declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency and announced a 5-Point Strategy to Combat the Opioid Crisis with five specific strategies for HHS to execute against:

• Improving access to treatment and recovery services;
  
• Promoting use of overdose-reversing drugs;
  
• Strengthening our understanding of the epidemic through better public health surveillance;
  
• Providing support for cutting edge research on pain and addiction; and
  
• Advancing better practices for pain management.
  

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Rouda Harley (D-CA) Press Release
  
• Original Cosponsor Rep. Mark Meadows Press Release
  
• CBO Cost Estimate
  
• Countable - SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act