Respected addiction researcher Tom McLellan has announced that he will resign as deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) this summer.
McLellan told Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Weekly in an interview that he was not unhappy with ONDCP's mission, its personnel, or the forthcoming National Drug Control Strategy. "There's no deep dark secret here -- I'm just ill-suited to government work," he said.
ONDCP issued a statement on April 16 confirming McLellan's plans to resign. "Tom has been a leader in helping the Obama administration fashion a comprehensive and balanced approach to drug policy that puts new emphasis on prevention, treatment, and recovery while acknowledging the important role of law enforcement," said ONDCP Director Gil Kerlikowske. "I will miss having Tom at my right hand, but we will continue to benefit from his wise counsel and knowledge."
McLellan said he would remain at ONDCP over the next several months to help implement the new drug strategy. "With the passage of health care reform and the crafting of the new drug control Strategy that will be released soon, I believe we have laid the foundation to make real progress in reducing drug use and its consequences," he said.
This blog is designed as an interactive space for those interested in a critical sociology of drugs. As someone with a background in both sociology and public health policy, I am looking for critical perspectives on drug use and how we respond to it. I am especially interested in bringing together medical sociology and the sociology of the body to better understand the lived experiences of drug users. -Julie Netherland
Friday, April 16, 2010
McClellan Resigns from ONDCP
Here's some bad news in my opinion (as reported by JoinTogether.org):
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