Jerome Jaffe
Encyclopedia
Dr. Jerome H. Jaffe was the first Drug Czar
under the administration of President of the United States Richard Nixon
.
, Jerome Jaffe was the chief of the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP), an executive agency created by President Nixon, a member of the Republican Party
of the United States
. While serving in this position, Dr. Jaffe initiated several important epidemiological studies and surveillance programs (including the Drug Abuse Warning Network) in order to strenthen drug abuse research in this country. Additionally, he introduced programs that radically altered and expanded drug abuse treatment in the United States. A strong proponent of methadone
treatment for opiate dependence, Jaffe worked to establish methadone treatment as recognized treatment option and to expand access. Previously, methadone treatment had been classified as experimental research and had extremely limited availability. The number of patients receiving treatment at methadone clinics nationwide doubled from 1970 to 1971 (to 20,000) and by the end of 1972 totalled over 60,000.
Additionally, under Jaffe's term, funding for drug prevention and treatment were radically expanded. Historically, the majority of federal funds relating to drug control are spend on law enforcement, a trend that still continues today. However, during the Nixon Administration, for the first time, more federal funds were allocated for drug abuse prevention and treatment than for law enforcement. Another important issue addressed under Jaffe's term was the creation of confidentiality regulations for individuals seeking drug treatment. He explains, "One of the issues was that people would not step forward to get treatment unless they believed that the records would be protected from the police, who might see this as a convenient way of finding people that they could arrest. That was a major effort."
Dr. Jaffe has had a long, distinguished career in addiction medicine both prior to and after serving as Drug Czar. Jaffe, a psychiatrist by training, completed his medical education at Temple University School of Medicine. He completed a psychiatry residency and a fellowship in pharmacology. In the early 1960s, Jaffe worked at the US Public Health Service Hospital in Lexington KY which housed a civil commitment program for federal narcotic offenders. Reflecting on his experience at Lexington, Jaffe notes that “keeping people six months or a year at Lexington did not prevent a high level of relapse.”
Over the course of his academic career Dr. Jaffe has also held appointments on the medical school faculties of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the University of Chicago, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, and the University of Connecticut.
While serving as director of the Drug Abuse Division of the State of Illinois Department of Mental Health in 1967, Jaffe led pioneering research on methadone maintenance. This community-based research indicated that short-term treatment with moderate doses of methadone did indeed seem to promote recovery from addiction. A significant and unexpected general observation was that " . . . the availability of methadone maintenance does not inevitably destroy the motivation of patients to achieve abstinence."
Later government positions included Director of the Addiction Research Center of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Acting Director and Senior Science Advisor at NIDA, and Director of the Office of Evaluation, Scientific Analysis and Synthesis of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Currently, Jaffe is a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, where he works in the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dr. Jaffe is the author or co-author of more than 200 articles and invited chapters published in peer-reviewed journals, in textbooks of psychiatry, pharmacology, and drug abuse, and in the popular press. He has served on numerous professional, national and international advisory groups and editorial boards, and has been a member of and consultant to the World Health Organization Expert Committee on Drug Dependence for more than twenty years. He is a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, and the American Psychiatric Association; an elected member or Fellow of several other scholarly and professional organizations; and an Honorary Fellow of the Society for the Study of Addictions (UK) and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK). Dr. Jaffe is Board Certified in Psychiatry with Extra Qualifications in Addiction Psychiatry and is the recipient of several awards, including the Nathan B. Eddy Award of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.
Drug Czar
Drug Czar is an informal name for the person who directs drug-control policies in the United States, following the U.S. use of the 'czar' term. The 'drug czar' title was first published in a 1982 news story by United Press International which reported that “Senators... voted 62–34 to establish a...
under the administration of President of the United States Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
.
Career
Under the administration of President NixonRichard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, Jerome Jaffe was the chief of the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP), an executive agency created by President Nixon, a member of the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. While serving in this position, Dr. Jaffe initiated several important epidemiological studies and surveillance programs (including the Drug Abuse Warning Network) in order to strenthen drug abuse research in this country. Additionally, he introduced programs that radically altered and expanded drug abuse treatment in the United States. A strong proponent of methadone
Methadone
Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic and a maintenance anti-addictive for use in patients with opioid dependency. It was developed in Germany in 1937...
treatment for opiate dependence, Jaffe worked to establish methadone treatment as recognized treatment option and to expand access. Previously, methadone treatment had been classified as experimental research and had extremely limited availability. The number of patients receiving treatment at methadone clinics nationwide doubled from 1970 to 1971 (to 20,000) and by the end of 1972 totalled over 60,000.
Additionally, under Jaffe's term, funding for drug prevention and treatment were radically expanded. Historically, the majority of federal funds relating to drug control are spend on law enforcement, a trend that still continues today. However, during the Nixon Administration, for the first time, more federal funds were allocated for drug abuse prevention and treatment than for law enforcement. Another important issue addressed under Jaffe's term was the creation of confidentiality regulations for individuals seeking drug treatment. He explains, "One of the issues was that people would not step forward to get treatment unless they believed that the records would be protected from the police, who might see this as a convenient way of finding people that they could arrest. That was a major effort."
Dr. Jaffe has had a long, distinguished career in addiction medicine both prior to and after serving as Drug Czar. Jaffe, a psychiatrist by training, completed his medical education at Temple University School of Medicine. He completed a psychiatry residency and a fellowship in pharmacology. In the early 1960s, Jaffe worked at the US Public Health Service Hospital in Lexington KY which housed a civil commitment program for federal narcotic offenders. Reflecting on his experience at Lexington, Jaffe notes that “keeping people six months or a year at Lexington did not prevent a high level of relapse.”
Over the course of his academic career Dr. Jaffe has also held appointments on the medical school faculties of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the University of Chicago, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, and the University of Connecticut.
While serving as director of the Drug Abuse Division of the State of Illinois Department of Mental Health in 1967, Jaffe led pioneering research on methadone maintenance. This community-based research indicated that short-term treatment with moderate doses of methadone did indeed seem to promote recovery from addiction. A significant and unexpected general observation was that " . . . the availability of methadone maintenance does not inevitably destroy the motivation of patients to achieve abstinence."
Later government positions included Director of the Addiction Research Center of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Acting Director and Senior Science Advisor at NIDA, and Director of the Office of Evaluation, Scientific Analysis and Synthesis of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Currently, Jaffe is a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, where he works in the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dr. Jaffe is the author or co-author of more than 200 articles and invited chapters published in peer-reviewed journals, in textbooks of psychiatry, pharmacology, and drug abuse, and in the popular press. He has served on numerous professional, national and international advisory groups and editorial boards, and has been a member of and consultant to the World Health Organization Expert Committee on Drug Dependence for more than twenty years. He is a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, and the American Psychiatric Association; an elected member or Fellow of several other scholarly and professional organizations; and an Honorary Fellow of the Society for the Study of Addictions (UK) and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK). Dr. Jaffe is Board Certified in Psychiatry with Extra Qualifications in Addiction Psychiatry and is the recipient of several awards, including the Nathan B. Eddy Award of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.