Hard Lessons from Inside the War on Drugs w/ Richard Baum

The opioid epidemic has claimed hundreds of thousands of American lives, devastated families, and challenged policymakers for more than four decades. In this compelling episode of Next Steps Forward, Dr. Chris Meek sits down with Richard Baum, a 28-year veteran of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy who served under six presidential administrations, including a stint as acting director.

Drawing on nearly three decades at the center of America's drug policy efforts, Baum provides an insider's perspective on the evolution of the opioid crisis, from prescription painkillers to heroin to the deadly rise of fentanyl. He examines the policy decisions, cultural shifts, pharmaceutical influences, and enforcement challenges that helped fuel one of the most devastating public health crises in modern American history. Baum also discusses lessons from his new book, Hard Lessons from Inside the War on Drugs, offering candid reflections on what worked, what failed, and why meaningful progress has often proven so difficult. The conversation explores the balance between public health and criminal justice approaches, the role of mental health and treatment, the international dimensions of fentanyl trafficking, and the bipartisan efforts required to address addiction and overdose deaths.

Most importantly, Baum shares the human stories behind the statistics, families forever changed by addiction, the emotional toll of the epidemic, and the reasons he remains hopeful that future generations can learn from the past. This is a thoughtful, timely discussion about one of America's most complex and consequential challenges and what it will take to move forward.

About Richard Baum: Richard J. Baum has served at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) for two decades in a variety of positions through five presidential administrations. He was Acting Director of ONDCP – or Drug Czar – from March 2017 to February 2018. In this position he served as the principal advisor to the President on drug policy and worked directly with Cabinet Secretaries. For much of his tenure as Acting Director he served concurrently as Executive Director of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, overseeing ONDCP’s work with the Commission in drafting and editing their two reports and coordinating and participating in their meetings in Washington.

Mr. Baum has previously served in a variety of management and policy positions at ONDCP. During his career at the Drug Czar’s office he led the development of numerous strategic documents, including the organization’s marquee publication, the National Drug Control Strategy, six times in three administrations, more than any other ONDCP official in its 30-year history. Prior to joining ONDCP's staff in 1997, he was a drug/health/justice policy analyst, researcher and grant writer, and served for six years as a Congressional Staff Member. He currently works on emerging drug threats at ONDCP’s Office on Translational Research and also serves on the faculty of the annual Rx Summit and Illicit Drugs and speaks at a variety of other policy forums on behalf of his agency.

Mr. Baum has both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Georgetown, as well as a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Colorado. He is an Adjunct Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University’s McCourt Graduate School, where he designed and teaches a course entitled: The War on Drugs: Causes, Consequences and Alternatives. His first book, “Hard Lessons from Inside the War on Drugs,” was published in 2025. He was Born and raised in New York City’s East Greenwich Village. He resides now in Falls Church, Virginia with his wife Linda Bloss-Baum, an 18-year old son, Matthew, is at Fordham University studying communications. An older daughter, Alexandria, 23 graduated from Penn State with a degree in hospitality.