‘Elections have consequences’: How to prepare for a new administration

Abstract

In February of 2017, when President-Elect Donald Trump was just into his first month in office, he proposed eliminating the Office of National Drug Control Policy. We covered this story in depth (see ADAW https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.30864), and one former federal employee told us at the time: “Elections have consequences. Fundamentally, it's a Trump administration now.” It's true again, but this time, addiction treatment and prevention groups are better organized. The message is not one of gloom and doom: it is one of how to show that your programs have impact, a different former federal employee – who was with the government for almost four decades and whose boss changed with every new administration (and who survived every change) – told ADAW last week.