In his keynote address at Community Justice 2014, Michael Botticelli, acting director of The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, explains that he doesn’t like the nickname “Drug Czar” because it connotes a militaristic “war on drugs” response to substance-use disorders. Botticelli, who has a background in public health and is in long-term recovery himself, feels that the problem of addiction is “fundamentally a public health issue” and that “you can’t incarcerate addiction out of people…. We need to have a more compassionate and effective response.”
