Drug Strategies

Drug Strategies, a non-profit research institute based in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1993 by former U.S Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters, Mathea Falco. Drug Strategies’ mission is to identify and promote more effective approaches to prevention and treatment of substance abuse and to increase public understanding of policies and programs that work.
Drug Strategies has conducted numerous research projects and policy reviews with support from major foundations, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. In addition, Drug Strategies has developed an innovative interactive website, www.bubblemonkey.com, and Treating Teens: A Guide to Adolescent Drug Programs to help young people and their families access vital information about drug abuse and treatment resources. Drug Strategies' research on the key elements of effective adolescent drug treatment includes examining treatment center screening of new clients, the relationship between cost and quality of treatment, and an assessment of 138 highly regarded adolescent treatment programs.
To encourage improved media coverage of drug abuse problems, Drug Strategies in 1999 created special journalism awards in memory of Nancy Dickerson Whitehead, a pioneer in television broadcasting who cared deeply about these issues and who was a founding member of Drug Strategies. With generous support from leading television and print journalists, the Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Awards from 1999 through 2008 honored 42 winners for excellence in reporting on drug abuse and its impact on communities across the country.
Drug Strategies is led by Mathea Falco, President, and a distinguished Board of Directors, chaired by Harvard Law Professor Philip Heymann, former United States Deputy Attorney General. Louise Bryson, former Chair of the J. Paul Getty Trust, Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children's Defense Fund, James R. Jones, former United States Ambassador to Mexico, and Michael Kantor, former United States Secretary of Commerce, are among the organization's noted Board members.
Recently, members of Drug Strategies have testified before the United States Congress on the use of the internet in relation to prescription drug abuse. On July 26th, 2006, Drug Strategies' president Mathea Falco joined a group of drug policy experts to testify before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to explain to lawmakers the dangers that the non-prescribed use of prescription narcotics poses to the health and well-being of the nation. In addition, in 2007 Drug Strategies' Board Chairman Professor Philip Heymann testified before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary about the connection between unregulated sales of prescription narcotics over the internet and the abuse of those medications, particularly among the nation's adolescents. Professor Heymann told the Committee "it is time to take action to curtail cyber-trafficking of dangerous drugs before it expands even further" through Congressional action that would engage “the active cooperation of the legitimate businesses that now unwittingly facilitate this traffic." Heymann went on to suggest that through focusing on parental empowerment, increased financial monitoring, and emphasis on education, the government could reverse the alarming growth in the abuse of prescription drugs.

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