Government Hasn’t Made Progress on Most Drug Control Goals: Report

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found the federal government has not made progress on most goals for reducing drug use, which were outlined in the 2010 National Drug Control Strategy, UPI reports.

The strategy included seven goals, including reducing drug use among 12- to 17-year-olds by 15 percent. There has been no progress on this goal, primarily because of an increase in teens’ use of marijuana, GAO reported. Teens have decreased their use of other drugs, the report noted.

The GAO noted programs designed to prevent and treat drug abuse are spread over 15 federal agencies, some of which provide overlapping services. “These programs could provide or fund one or more drug abuse prevention or treatment service that at least one other program could also provide or fund, either to similar population groups or to reach similar program goals,” the report stated. “Such fragmentation and overlap may result in inefficient use of resources among programs providing similar services.”

Many prevention and treatment programs that GAO surveyed did not report coordination efforts, according to the report. The office noted 40 percent of surveyed programs said there was no coordination with other federal agencies on drug abuse prevention or treatment activities.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy has said it will work with agencies administering federal programs that provide drug abuse prevention and treatment activities to enhance coordination, according to the article.