NATIONWIDE — The White House will release next week a 195-page national drug control strategy that proposes nationwide wastewater testing, artificial intelligence screening of cargo at ports of entry, and analysis of electronic health records to identify patients at high risk of overdose. The plan also calls for search algorithms to detect emerging drug threats and biologic specimen testing to measure drug use trends.

The strategy states: "We will also prioritize establishing new data systems to monitor drug consumption in real-time, through a national wastewater-based monitoring system and biosurveillance. These objective measures will provide timely, localized data on current drug use and trafficking patterns."

U.S. overdose deaths are on the decline after peaking in mid-2023, with more than 68,000 reported nationwide in the 12-month period ending in November. The number of Americans reporting illicit drug use in the past year increased in 2024, mostly due to more marijuana use. The report describes fentanyl-laced drugs and newer synthetic drugs as new threats.

The strategy calls for making treatment easier to access than buying illicit drugs and says addiction care should be integrated with other types of medical care, individualized and comprehensive. It includes support for medication-based treatment for opioid use disorder and calls for research into possible medication-based treatments for methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. The plan says naloxone must be as common as epinephrine used to treat allergic reactions, and that fentanyl test strips can be an important tool to detect contaminated drugs. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency released a letter stating that test strips cannot be purchased with federal grants.

The strategy emphasizes the use of religious faith in treating drug addiction. The document states: "Secular education and treatment are important, but for those who have faith, adding God into the equation brings in a special power. Faith leaders are encouraged to use their influence and pulpit to promote the social norm of not using drugs and bringing hope and support to those who have the treatable condition of addiction."

The report states that "American society has become increasingly permissive of illicit drug use," describing pop culture as normalizing drug use in films, music and public use. It states that marketers of nicotine, alcohol, marijuana and psychedelics have adopted "strategies similar to Big Tobacco's historical targeting of young audiences," and that marijuana products of unprecedented high potency are often "aggressively advertised, and often packaged to appeal to minors."

President Trump has expressed support for increasing research into some illicit substances and signed an executive order to make it easier for scientists to study some psychedelics for possible mental health treatments. The Justice Department announced it was ordering the rescheduling of certain marijuana products to a lower drug classification and expediting the process to reclassify marijuana more broadly.

The document stresses law enforcement's role in stopping the distribution of illicit drugs. The Trump administration has designated some drug cartels as foreign terror organizations and carried out deadly strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.