Sen. Cruz: America Needs a Strong Leader to Serve as Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to Combat the Ongoing Opioid Crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, participated in a nomination hearing for U.S. District Judge vacancies and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. There, he questioned James W. Carroll Jr, nominated to be Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, focusing on his efforts to combat domestic drug abuse and the ongoing opioid epidemic.

Watch Sen. Cruz’s line of questioning focusing on the future of the Office of National Drug Control Policy here. A transcript is below:

Sen. Cruz: Mr. Carroll, we as a country have been having an ongoing discussion about the opioid crisis and how to combat it. In your judgment, what are the most important steps we need to take to turn around this epidemic? 

James Carroll: There are three things that we need to do. We need to work on controlling the supply of drugs that are coming into our country. We are seeing record production, record cultivation of the biologic products, the plants, the heroin, poppy fields coming from that. The cocaine, the coca fields that are producing that – they are in record numbers now coming in to the United States and we need to work on interdicting those drugs. We need to start at the source countries and start tracking them all the way here so we can block them coming into our country. What we need to do is work on the prevention aspects of this as well through the education of prescribers, making sure that they understand the dangers of opioids, and that they are conveying that to the patients themselves. What we also need is an awareness campaign, we did a release about a month ago – four new public service announcements targeting the youth who are the most at risk from the opioid abuse problem that’s facing our country that you just mentioned. And so, an education campaign based on them and letting them know the risk that is associated with it. Finally, we need to embrace recovery and treatment for those individuals that are already impacted by this and making sure that they can access help and get the long-term support that they need.  

Sen. Cruz: In your judgment, what is the role of border security in terms of dealing with this crisis?

James Carroll: In terms of border security in general the issue is making sure that illicit narcotics are not coming through our country, and they are coming in multiple ways. The border security we are seeing for fentanyl, which is killing so many people today, is primarily coming from China and crossing our borders though the U.S. Postal Inspection Services. I appreciate the legislation that Congress has enacted to aid them in their efforts there to stop fentanyl. What we also need to do is to work on the border security both on the land border, coming up from Mexico – including coming down from Canada as well, we can’t ignore the northern border – and then finally at sea through the Department of Defense and really, the Coast Guard. We’re very active in interdicting at sea, and we have a great support system across the way.

Sen. Cruz: As you and I have discussed before, I’ve spent time meeting with a number of local law enforcement officials in Texas and there’s a long history of close cooperation and collaboration between state and local law enforcement officials and federal agencies all combating illegal drugs. Can you share your view of the level of cooperation and collaboration that is appropriate, that we should be working towards, and what you see is the role of ONDCP in terms of furthering that cooperation and collaboration?

James Carroll: I’m very proud of the work that ONDCP does at that coordination level both between local, state, tribal and federal partners. Our high intensity drug trafficking areas is really designed to do that and I appreciate Congress’ support – and your support, Senator, particularly – for understanding the value of those. In 2018, we spent $280 million across the country with now 30 HIDTA, including the most recent one I released about six weeks ago. What we do at ONDCP is we hold each one of those accountable. Every year, they come in, share with us their metrics in terms of exactly how they’re performing and what they’re doing. And so, what that represents is 22,000 officers – at the tribal, local, state and federal level involved – 500 different agencies with the results of 3,000 drug trafficking organizations dismantled, $16 billion in drugs removed and 90,000 arrests. Excuse me, 90,000 arrests plus the deconfliction of incidents to make sure there’s not a ‘blue on blue’ situation.

Sen. Cruz: Thank you for that. I agree, that the HIDTA in particular have been quite effective and an excellent example of the cooperation we should be seeing across law enforcement.  

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