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Chapter II (continued)
11. Performance
Measures of Effectiveness (PME)
The
stated intent of the National Drug Control Strategy is to
reduce drug use and availability by 50 percent and decrease health
and social consequences a minimum of 25 percent by 2007 (compared
to 1996 baseline levels). The Strategy charts the course
for accomplishing this end. Progress toward the Strategy's
five goals and thirty-one objectives must be continuously assessed
in order to gauge success or failure and adjust the Strategy
accordingly. ONDCP has consulted with Congress, federal drug-control
agencies, state and local officials, private citizens, and organizations
with experience in demand and supply reduction to develop a Performance
Measurement of Effectiveness (PME) system to gauge national drug-
control efforts.
The
PME system: (1) assesses the effectiveness of the Strategy
and its supporting programs, (2) provides information to the entire
drug-control community on what needs to be done to refine policy
and programmatic directions, and (3) assists with drug-control budget
management. The PME system fulfills congressional guidelines that
the National Drug Control Strategy contain measurable objectives
and specific targets to accomplish long-term quantifiable goals.
These targets and annual reports are intended to inform congressional
appropriations and authorizing committees as they restructure appropriations
in support of the Strategy to ensure that resources necessary to
attain ambitious long-term performance goals are provided.
The
nucleus of the PME system consists of twelve "impact targets" that
define measurable results to be achieved by the Strategy's
five goals. There are five impact targets for demand reduction,
five for supply reduction, and two for reducing the adverse health
and criminal consequences associated with drug use and trafficking.
Eighty-five additional targets further delineate mid- (2002) and
long-term (2007) targets for the Strategy's thirty-one objectives.
They are "stretch targets" in that they require progress above that
attained in previous years. This system is in accordance with recommendations
from the National Academy of Public Administration, the General
Accounting Office, and other organizations advocating good government
practices. The overall performance system is described in detail
within a companion volume to this Strategy — Performance
Measures of Effectiveness: 2000 Report.139
Progress
toward each goal and objective is assessed using new and existing
data sources. MTF and the NHSDA, for example, both estimate risk
perception, rates of current use, age of initiation, and lifetime
use for alcohol, tobacco, and most illegal drugs. The ADAM and DAWN
surveys indirectly measure the consequences of drug abuse. The State
Department's annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
(INCSR) provides country-by-country assessments of initiatives and
accomplishments. INCSR reviews statistics on drug cultivation, eradication,
production, trafficking patterns, and seizure along with law-enforcement
efforts including arrests and the destruction of drug laboratories.
The Drug Control Research, Data, and Evaluation Committee (an advisory
committee to the ONDCP Director), Subcommittee on Data, Research,
and Interagency Coordination is developing additional instruments
and measurement processes required to address the demographics of
chronic users, domestic cannabis cultivation, drug availability,
and other data shortfalls.*
The
Fiscal Year 2001 Budget Summary (a companion volume to this
Annual Report) associates federal drug-control budget requests
with performance objectives. ONDCP's annual budget guidance to federal
drug-control program agencies reflects the PME system's logic models
and action plans. The federal government alone cannot attain the
ambitious goals established by the PME system simply by altering
its own spending and programs any more than the United States can
unilaterally reduce cocaine production in South America or opium
cultivation in Asia. A coalition of government, the private sector,
communities, religious institutions, and individuals — a truly
national effort — must embrace such a commitment for it to
be successful.
*
The Data Appendix to this Annual Report traces the reporting requirements
outlined by Congress, the existing data instruments used to compile
this 2000 report, areas where data is insufficient or infrequently
collected, and steps being taken to remedy data inadequacies. Appendix
H of Performance Measures of Effectiveness: 2000 Report outlines
accomplishments in 1999 by ONDCP’s Data Subcommittee that can help
close the PME system data gap.
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