Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2024

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I thank the majority for working together with us to bring this bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Office of National Drug Control Policy, or ONDCP, to the floor.

The office has the critical responsibility to coordinate the whole- of-government response to the Nation's continuing brutal addiction and substance abuse crisis, which affects every community in the land.

In the face of this crisis, new data shows that opioid overdose deaths have decreased 14.5 percent over the 12-month period ending on June 30, 2024, due, in no small part, to the strong actions of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

To understand the addiction and overdose crisis, the Biden-Harris administration sees the need to address the problem at both the levels of supply and demand. ONDCP has taken decisive action to intercept the flow of fentanyl and other illicit substances into the country.

This reauthorization will further bolster our efforts to block the supply of drugs, including by funding the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program providing more than $275 million in grant making to law enforcement entities that will help keep illicit and harmful drugs off of our streets.

The reauthorization also confronts the problem by countering the demand for illegal drugs. The Drug Free Communities Program, for example, brings together approximately 35,000 people across the country to help prevent and combat youth substance abuse.

I am proud this authorization would make sure that this successful grant program continues. Research shows also that harm-reduction strategies, programs that meet people where they are, work. Under the Biden-Harris administration, ONDCP has adopted harm-reduction strategies as part of the national campaign to address the addiction crisis and save lives.

The office has supported community access to naloxone, syringe service programs, and fentanyl test strip distribution. The legislation will allow the office to continue these harm-reduction programs and will direct an evidence-based examination of opioid reversal medications, like naloxone.

During last year's hearing examining reauthorization, we discussed the importance of empowering ONDCP to identify and respond to new and emerging illegal drug threats, including Xylazine, a street drug that is used by veterinarians as a tranquilizer for large animals. This legislation will enable the office to continue this work as new threats come to market and begin to besiege our communities.

I thank the chairman and his staff for working with us on this bipartisan legislation in a bipartisan way, and I am happy to support reauthorization through 2031.

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Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from Puerto Rico for her kind words. We have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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