More of the Same? A Comparison of the National Drug Control Strategy Reports by Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden

Every year, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is expected to produce its National Drug Control Strategy to communicate to the American people and to Congress the goals of the drug war, its main elements, and a thorough budget summary. Historically, the Strategy report was also used to assess performance toward ONDCP’s goals and objectives, as required by law. Prior research into ONDCP claims-making in its annual Strategy reports found significant problems, including dishonesty in the form of manipulating and selectively presenting data to make it look like the drug was going better than it actually was. In this paper, the author assesses three versions of the Strategy—Barack Obama’s final report (2016), Donald Trump’s final report (2020), and Joe Biden’s first report (2022). One purpose of the paper is to assess claims-making by ONDCP under the three Presidents, and to see the degree to which the former Vice President of Barack Obama continued on as President in Obama’s approach to “fighting” the drug war—rooted in science and empirical evidence. Other purposes of the paper are to assess how well ONDCP, under all three Presidents, presents data on key drug indicators, and to determine if ONDCP is being honest in its presentation of data.