Pathways 2 Prevention
Inside the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy with Dr. Roneet Lev
53 min
Guest: Dr. Roneet Lev
Listen on SpotifySummary
In this episode, Dr. Roneet Lev, Chief Medical Officer at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, discusses the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy. She shares insights into the public health aspects of the strategy, its key differentiators, and what it means for prevention professionals. Dr. Lev highlights new approaches including clearer language for primary prevention, the inclusion of faith, and a focus on real-time drug threat data.
Key takeaways
- The 2026 National Drug Control Strategy emphasizes clearer language around primary prevention.
- The strategy includes a first-ever place for faith in national drug policy.
- There is a new push for real-time drug threat data within the strategy.
- A treatment-first approach is highlighted for the hardest populations.
- Dr. Roneet Lev, an emergency physician and addiction medicine specialist, helped shape the public health side of the strategy.
Show notes
What happens when an emergency physician who spent years on the front lines of the overdose crisis gets to help write national drug policy? In this episode, Dave Closson sits down with Dr. Roneet Lev, chief medical officer at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, to unpack the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy and what it means for the people doing prevention work on the ground.
Dr. Lev shaped the public health side of the strategy, and she brings both the data and the heart behind it. The conversation moves from her own path into addiction medicine to the choices that make this document different from the ones before it: clearer language around primary prevention, a first-ever place for faith, a new push for real-time drug threat data, and a treatment-first approach to the hardest populations.
If you lead a coalition, work in prevention, treatment, or recovery, or simply care about your community, you will hear your work named and championed at the highest level. Come for the policy. Stay for the reminder that no one is a lost cause.
Guest Bio:
Dr. Roneet Lev is the chief medical officer at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. A board-certified emergency physician and addiction medicine specialist, she spent years leading community overdose response in San Diego before helping shape the public health side of the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy. Parents who lost children to addiction remain her moral compass.
Drug Free America Foundation Links:
- Website
- YouTube
Episode Links:
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