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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Tom Riley (202) 395–6618
January 29, 2003
WHITE HOUSE DRUG CZAR UNVEILS DETAILS OF PRESIDENT'S NEW DRUG TREATMENT INITIATIVE
(Washington, DC) -- John P. Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), today unveiled details of President Bush's new three-year, $600 million plan to expand access to drug treatment across America. The new initiative creates a voucher program that will complement existing alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs, increasing treatment capacity and access to effective treatment programs.
"This initiative offers a new and effective way for the federal government to help people get into recovery," said Director Walters. "We know that treatment works. But we also know that there are too many Americans who, for a variety of reasons, cannot access the treatment they need. By giving people a choice, and the direct means to help connect them with effective treatment, we will be able to more directly help drug users who have recognized their problem. This program will also help treatment providers and the overall drug treatment system by bringing increased accountability into the system."
The new initiative will work by allowing individuals to utilize federal alcohol and drug abuse dollars at all effective treatment organizations. Those individuals will be assessed and receive a voucher to pay for an appropriate level of treatment. Individual states would be required to monitor the outcomes of the voucher program and to make adjustments based on the extent to which improved client outcomes are or are not achieved in a cost-effective manner.
Director Walters continued, "We are seeing encouraging signs that national prevention efforts are working. Youth drug use is now at its lowest level in years. However, in order to meet the President's goals of reducing drug use by 10 percent in two years and 25 percent in five years, we must also focus on treating those Americans whose drug use has already progressed to dependency."
The new initiative is designed to allow treatment providers, faith-based and other community organizations, workplaces, and schools to help drug users receive the treatment and support services that are best suited to their individual needs. Combined with prior year requests, this increase in funding will meet the President's commitment to provide an additional $1.6 billion for treatment services over five years.
