Federal Insider: Obama anti-heroin strategy shifts focus to treatment from arrests

President Obama mounted his bully pulpit Tuesday in an attempt to change the focus on heroin and opioid addiction from a criminal problem to a health issue.

It would be a major shift in emphasis if he succeeds.

Appearing on a panel at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta, Obama said for too long the problem of drug abuse has been viewed “through the lens of the criminal justice system.” He outlined some of the law enforcement steps his administration is taking, then returned his attention to “the most important thing we can do:” reducing demand for drugs.

“The only way that we reduce demand is if we’re providing treatment and thinking about this as a public health problem and not just a criminal problem,” he said to cheers and applause.

Obama also acknowledged that more attention is being paid to addiction as a health issue now that it is seen as a growing threat to white communities, instead of primarily a low-income black and brown police matter.

“We have to be honest about this,” he said. “Part of what has made it previously difficult to emphasize treatment over the criminal justice system has to do with the fact that the populations affected in the past were viewed as or stereotypically identified as poor, minority.”

His comments echoed remarks by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) at a House hearing last week.

“In Baltimore, where many of the victims were poor and black … our nation treated this issue like a war rather than a public health emergency,” Cummings said. “We incarcerated a generation rather than giving them the treatment they needed.”

“Now, things are changing,” he added. “Between 2006 and 2013, the number of first-time heroin users nearly doubled, and about 90 percent of these first-time users were white.”

Today heroin and other drug abusers are those, as the White House identified them, with “opioid use disorders.” Yesterday they were junkies.

The panel discussion was moderated by CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, and included Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana Wen and two people in long-term addiction recovery, Justin Luke Riley and Crystal Oertle.

Earlier Tuesday, the White House released Obama’s multi-point plan to fight heroin addiction and prescription-drug abuse. It includes his $1.1 billion budget proposal to fight the epidemic.

The plan includes:

This covers proposals to increase the availability of medical treatments and behavioral services. More than 270 community health centers will get $94 million in funding that the Department of Health and Human Services announced earlier this month. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration also is releasing $11 million to expand treatment centers in 11 states.