President Donald Trump has chosen conservative journalist Sara Carter to serve as the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Carter is a former Fox News contributor with no formal drug policy, public health, or law enforcement background.
As a reporter, Carter has investigated the role of foreign drug trafficking organizations in the illicit marijuana trade. Privately, she has expressed support for patients’ use of medical cannabis and once acknowledged: “I don’t have any problem if [cannabis] is legalized and monitored. … I’m not saying we’ve got to make it illegal.”
Carter awaits confirmation from members of the US Senate.
Congress created the Office of National Drug Control Policy in 1988 to “implement and evaluate drug control policies to reduce the use, manufacturing, and trafficking of illicit drugs.” By statute, the agency’s director “shall ensure that no federal funds appropriated to the [agency] shall be expended for any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in schedule I … and take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a substance (in any form) that— (A) is listed in schedule I; and (B) has not been approved for use for medical purposes by the Food and Drug Administration.”
The director serves as an advisor to the President “regarding changes in the organization, management, budgeting, and personnel of Federal Agencies that could affect the nation’s anti-drug efforts.” It oversees an approximately $44 billion budget.
Former ONDCP directors include former military general Barry McCaffrey, who encouraged screenwriters to embed government-approved anti-drug storylines in popular television shows, and John Walters, who alleged: “Finding somebody in jail for possession of marijuana is like finding a unicorn. It doesn’t exist.”
Additional Office of National Drug Control Policy information is available from The White House.