23 million

Number of Americans in 2010 who needed substance abuse treatment

2.6 million

Number of Americans who actually received treatment that year

53 percent

State prisoners in the U.S. with substance abuse disorders who had at least three prior sentences on their criminal record.

SOURCE: Office of National Drug Control Policy

A Shift in Focus

Starting in 1988, the nation’s so-called “drug czar” has led the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy to curb drug abuse. Historically the drug czar helped lead the U.S.’s “war on drugs,” an effort that dates back to the Nixon administration and relies on international and law-enforcement operations to curb drug trafficking into the United States, as well as to stomp out drug abuse domestically.
However, the nation’s present drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, has called for a more “balanced” approach to curb drug abuse through community and public health programs instead of focusing on the war on drugs.