The Trump administration has proposed cutting almost 95 percent of the budget for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy at a time the president has pledged to aggressively combat opioid addiction, according to an internal memo.
The office coordinates much of the nation’s anti-drug strategy.
“These drastic proposed cuts are frankly heartbreaking and, if carried out, would cause us to lose many good people who contribute greatly to ONDCP’s mission and core activities,” the council’s acting director, Richard Baum, wrote Friday in a staff memo.
President Donald Trump, during his campaign, said he would take on the opioid epidemic as he traveled to many communities ravaged by heroin use and overdose deaths.
White House spokesman Sarah Sanders on Friday dismissed reports of the proposed budget cuts, which were first reported by Politico.
“We haven’t had a final document, and I think it would be ridiculous to comment on a draft version of something at this point,” she said.
Trump is scheduled to release his proposed budget for fiscal year 2018 this month.
Trump signed an executive order March 29 creating a Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, which directed the drug policy office to use its funds to cover the costs of the commission.
“Opioid abuse has become a crippling problem throughout the United States,” Trump said before signing the order. “This is a total epidemic. And I think it’s almost untalked about compared to the severity that we’re witnessing.”
Scott Gottlieb, Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said in his confirmation hearing that tackling the opioid epidemic should be the agency’s highest priority. The crisis “has staggering human consequences,” Gottlieb said.