United States “Drug Czar” Botticelli on PBS: “There was a growing consensus, particularly with this administration, that we needed to really deal with the historic racial and ethnic inequities in our prison system, and that’s been largely focused on people of color who have been incarcerated, many of whom are there as low-level nonviolent offenders around drug-use issues.”
Frontline has published an edited transcript of an interview with Michael Botticelli, the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) conducted on Sept. 16, 2015.
Here we share a few key quotes. Click below to continue to the complete story.
I think my nomination and my confirmation and my background and personal history around these issues are really emblematic of a growing consensus of where we are in drug policy, not just in the United States but around the world.”
We’re going to continue to pursue an agenda that supports prevention, treatment, recovery, support; continue to look at reforming our criminal justice system. Diverting people away from the criminal justice system and making sure that people have good care and treatment is one of the singularly [most] important things that we have to do.”
We’ve come to really understand that our largely punitive responses to people with substance use disorders is ineffective. It’s inhumane, and it’s costly.”