Agency Mission and Goals
The mission of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is to lead the Nation's counter-narcotics efforts by developing policies and coordinating, promoting, and implementing initiatives to successfully reduce the supply, use, and social acceptance of drugs in the United States. Among ONDCP's highest priority concerns are the increases in youth drug use, drug-related youth violence, and the erosion of antidrug attitudes among youth.
ONDCP's Office of the Director, Office of Demand Reduction, and Office of Supply Reduction support the agency mission by:
Activities and Priorities Relating to Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
The following ONDCP goals and priorities relating to juvenile justice issues were originally set forth in the 1994 NDCS:
ONDCP works with other Federal drug control agencies and it participates on the Domestic Policy Council, the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the President's Crime Prevention Council, and the Federal Prevention Roundtable. ONDCP also is involved in a number of interagency initiatives aimed at addressing issues and concerns relating to juvenile delinquency, crime, and substance abuse.
National Drug Prevention System
The purpose of the National Drug Prevention System (NDPS) is to leverage Federal resources and influence to forge, promote, and sustain strong prevention partnerships among Federal, State, and local entities. Through ONDCP's Office of Demand Reduction, NDPS will unite various drug prevention sectors and programs and will serve as a comprehensive system to address the drug abuse prevention needs of the Nation's diverse population. NDPS will provide an inventory of existing drug abuse prevention initiatives and programs, identify major gaps and areas of overlap, and plan the most effective use of resources. Major prevention agencies in the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Justice, Housing and Urban Development, and Labor will be involved. Planning and coordination agencies such as the Office of National AIDS Policy Coordination, the President's Crime Prevention Council, and the National Performance Review will be involved as well.
NDPS activities include the following:
Break the Cycle Initiative
ONDCP's Bureau of State and Local Affairs is working with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to implement a pilot program to break the cycle of drug abuse. The objective of this initiative is to help select communities develop comprehensive community-based approaches to confront the problem of drug abuse. This initiative encourages a systematic response to the problems of chronic, hardcore drug use by integrating local health, education, housing, labor, and justice systems. Funds to establish local infrastructure and coordinate the program will be obtained from the widest possible range of sources, including forfeiture and gift authorities.
This pilot effort is a national demonstration of a systems approach to managing the drug problem at the local level. ONDCP will produce a manual titled How To Break the Cycle of Drug Abuse to assist community-based organizations in combating drug abuse and crime. The following are key elements of this pilot program:
Save Our Children -- Save Our Future Campaign
The purpose of the Save Our Children -- Save Our Future Campaign is to develop media messages to discourage youth from using drugs, to train young people to analyze media messages critically through a Media Literacy Program, and to provide explicit recognition for young people who contribute to antidrug and healthy alternative endeavors. The lead agency is ONDCP's Office of Demand Reduction.
The goals of this initiative are to:
Other Collaborative Efforts
In addition to these interagency initiatives, ONDCP has been an active participant in Federal interagency efforts to support Project PACT (Pulling America's Communities Together). Project PACT provides a forum to bring community antidrug coalitions and partnerships together with community organizations addressing gangs, crime, and violence. ONDCP will continue to support and monitor Project PACT as a means to further develop, refine, and sustain the community infrastructure necessary for long-term prevention efforts.
ONDCP also is involved with National Performance Review initiatives that focus directly on inter- and intra-governmental relationships. The Oregon Option, for example, establishes a relationship whereby performance benchmarks set by the State will guide the provision and oversight of Federal resources. The Oregon Option is a "reinventing government" initiative, intended to replace the existing categorical relationship among Federal, State, and local governments with one that is structured to achieve agreed-upon outcomes or benchmarks. A Federal Interagency Action Team has been working with State and local representatives in four work cluster groups -- Healthy Children, Family Stability, Workforce Development, and Statistics. While many of the benchmarks do not address drug use directly, they address risk and protective factors that are essential to long-term prevention.
ONDCP priorities relating to juvenile justice and delinquency prevention for FY 1996 and beyond will not change significantly from the present priority program areas. These priorities include programs that are designed to:
ONDCP does not directly fund programs or activities relating to juvenile delinquency and delinquency prevention. Instead, it provides policy and direction to reduce drug use and drug-related crime and violence in the Nation.