Gil Kerlikowske, director of The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), visited Temple on Monday to meet with Temple officials and professors, community leaders and representatives from Philadelphia’s drug addiction recovery and prevention programs to discuss Philadelphia’s role as a national model for drug control policy.

“For years, Philadelphia has engaged leaders from across a wide variety of agencies in discussing a developing effective drug control policies,” said Steven Belenko, professor in the Department of Criminal Justice in the College of Liberal Arts, adding that the agencies range from the District Attorney’s Office to the Mural Arts Program.

Rather than focusing drug policies solely on prevention and incarceration, Philadelphia has reframed its focus to provide recovering addicts sustained support to help them transition out of drug addiction to become contributors to their communities. With the support of Temple professors, Philadelphia has proven “there is treatment that is effective, half the cost of incarceration, and it brings people back into their community,” Kerlikowske said. 

Philadelphia stands out in a nation grappling with drug addiction because its efforts have been proven to work. Temple professors have served as advisors and independent evaluators of many of Philadelphia’s innovative efforts to help people overcome addictions. 

The ONDCP now hopes to incorporate Philadelphia’s efforts into President Obama’s first National Drug Control Policy, which will be unveiled in the months to come. Kerlikowske said this new policy will rely on scientific evidence to determine which programs to implement.

The discussion was organized through a partnership between the School of Social Work in the College of Health Professions and Social Work and the City of Philadelphia.