Funding the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy: What is at Stake in FY 2027

On May 4, 2026, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS). Published every two years, the Strategy is the federal government's central plan for how it will address addiction across agencies. This year's version gets the priorities right. It treats addiction as a chronic and treatable disease, commits to making FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder widely available, keeps naloxone affordable for the people who need it and invests in the behavioral health workforce that provides care. Each of these reflects what the evidence says actually helps people recover. 

However, one month earlier, the budget that would pay for that plan moved in the opposite direction. 

What the FY 2027 Budget Request would cut 

The FY 2027 President's Budget Request (PBR), released on April 3, 2026, does not fund the Strategy. It would weaken several parts of the federal overdose prevention and treatment system at once. 

It proposes more than $222 million in cuts to prevention programs at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). It merges three major behavioral health formula grants into a single pool, which would force addiction programs and mental health programs to compete for the same dollars. It shrinks the federal behavioral health workforce pipeline by close to 44 percent. It eliminates housing programs that the Strategy itself calls essential to lasting recovery. And it cuts ONDCP by 95 percent, even though federal law puts that office in charge of coordinating and certifying the entire federal drug control budget. 

Why this matters right now 

We are finally turning a corner. Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate 68,632 drug overdose deaths in 2025, a decline of 15 percent from the year before. That is roughly 12,000 people who were alive at the end of 2025 and would not have been at the prior year's rate. Twelve thousand parents, children, neighbors and coworkers. 

That decline did not happen on its own but followed more than a decade of steady federal investment in the prevention, treatment and recovery programs the PBR now proposes get cut. The services that brought the numbers down are the services on the chopping block. 

A plan on paper does not keep anyone alive. Treatment slots, naloxone supplies, the data systems that show us where people are dying, recovery housing and reentry support all run on funding that Congress provides each year. Reduce the funding and the Strategy's promises go unmet, starting with the people who rely on these programs most. 

What you can do about it 

The budget request is not final, but it is the Administration's opening proposal. Congress writes and passes the bills that set the actual numbers. When the Administration proposed similar cuts for FY 2026, Congress protected funding for most of these programs with votes from both parties. The same result is within reach for FY 2027, and the window to make the case is open now. 

You can help shape it 

Read our full Strategy analysis, which walks through what each proposed cut would mean, program by program. Then bring it to the people with the power to influence and manage behavioral health funding. Tell them what these programs do in your community and what their loss would cost. The decisions are being made over the coming months and they will be shaped by the people who speak up while there is still time. 

Download the full Strategy analysis today.  

Download the NDCS vs PBR Fact Sheet  

Advocates who want to engage the federal budget process directly can also access the Overdose Prevention Initiative’s U.S. Federal Advocacy Action Guide, free on the Health Advocacy Training and Collaboration Hub (HATCH), for a practical walkthrough of how the appropriations cycle works and how community-level evidence can influence it.