In 2013, the National Drug Control Strategy, a publication of the ONDCP, endorsed a balance of prevention, treatment, and law enforcement, as a strategy to reduce illicit drug usage. List and define four of the steps they endorsed

Question

What are your opinions about these strategies concerning their plusses and minuses? What would you add or take away to these strategies to improve them?

Answer 1

1 . Ensure Balanced, Compassionate, and Humane Drug Policies.Modern drug policies must acknowledge that drugaddiction is a chronic disease of the brain that can be prevented and treated. Public health and public safety initiatives are complementary and equally vital to achieving reductions in drug use and its consequences. The challenge lies in combining cost-effective, evidence-based approaches that protect public health and safety.
2 . Integrate Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Support Services into Public-Health Systems. Public-health approaches, such as evidenced-based prevention, screening, and brief interventions in health-care settings, drug treatment programs, and recovery support services, are vital components of an effective drug-control strategy.
3 . Protect Human Rights. Respect for human rights is an integral part of drug policy. Citizens, especially children, have the right to be safe from illegal drug use and associated crime, violence, and other consequences—whether in their family or the community. Drug-involved offenders who have contact with the criminal justice system deserve to be supervised with respect for their basic human rights and to be provided with services to treat their underlying substance-use disorder.
4 . Support and Expand Access to Medication-Assisted Therapies. Recent innovations in medication-assisted therapieshave demonstrated increasing effectiveness in reducingdrug use and its consequences. These medications should be further studied to identify new therapies and best practices in program implementation.
5 . Reform Criminal Justice Systems to Support Both Public Health and Public Safety. Criminal justice systems play avital role in breaking the cycle of drug use, crime, incarceration,and rearrest. Although individuals should beheld responsible for breaking the law, the criminal justicesystem should help bring them into contact with treatmentservices if they are suffering from a substance-usedisorder. This includes providing treatment services incorrectional facilities, providing alternatives to incarcerationsuch as drug courts for nonviolent drug-involved offenders, and using monitoring, drug testing, and other means to ensure recovery from illegal drug use.
6 . Disrupt Drug Trafficking.Transnational criminal organizations should be targeted, with a focus on the arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of drug traffickers; the seizure of illegal assets; the disruption of drug production networks; the control of precursor chemicals; and the eradication of illegal drug crops. International cooperation on information exchange, extradition, and training and technical assistance should be strengthened to eliminate safe harbors for transnational criminal organizations.
7 . Address the Drug Problem as a Shared Responsibility. Drug use, production, and trafficking are increasingly globalized problems and pose challenges to all nations. Because of the global nature of today's drug markets, international cooperation is essential to protect public health and safety.