For Immediate Release
Contact: Rivers Johnson/Bob Weiner 202-395-6618
January 24, 2001
STATEMENT BY THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY
CONCERNING RAND REPORT ON ANTI-DRUG BUDGETING
RAND today released a report requested and sponsored by
ONDCP—Improving Anti-Drug Budgeting. ONDCP is committed to continually improving methodologies in order to use the most valid and accurate ones available. This study examined the methodologies used by key drug control agencies in computing budget statistics reported to the public. RAND's examinations included the budgets of the Coast Guard, Bureau of Prisons, DoD, INS, Customs, FBI, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Veterans Affairs (VA), Education, and the Health Care Financing Administration. As a result of these reviews, RAND identified several areas where particular drug budget methodologies could be improved. RAND found, for example, that the drug budget methodologies used by FBI and VA significantly overstated actual drug control spending.
ONDCP asked for the RAND reports because we want the most reliable data to reflect the national anti-drug budget. ONDCP has used the RAND findings, and will continue to do so, to improve the way drug budgets are presented to the Congress and the public. The FBI drug methodology has already been corrected, and ONDCP recently approved improved methodologies for VA and Education that substantially address RAND's findings. It is important to note that these corrections do not reflect an actual reduction in resources. These changes are merely technical recalculations of how budgets are displayed, which more accurately estimate resources spent by agencies.
Further, ONDCP recently implemented a new provision in federal law that requires all drug control agencies to provide annually a full accounting of their drug control spending that is authenticated by agency Inspectors General. A prime focus of these reviews is the methodology employed by each agency to present its drug budget. The first of these reports was submitted to Congress in December 2000. This report identified many of the same areas highlighted by RAND. These annual reports will provide a continuing basis for improvements to agency drug budget accounting presentations.
