Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. government's drug strategy should focus more on treating addiction and less on imposing harsh prison sentences, the White House said Tuesday. "Outdated policies like the mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders are relics of the past that ignore the need for a balanced public health and safety approach to our drug problem," Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a statement. The office's annual report to Congress suggests a "new national approach" that includes criminal justice system reforms aimed at stopping "the revolving door of drug use, crime, incarceration, and rearrest," officials said in a statement.
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Drug czar: Incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders is an "outdated" policy
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"We cannot simply arrest our way out of the drug problem," he says
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The White House says drug use in the U.S. has "dropped substantially"
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"Serious drug-related challenges remain," Obama says
Since U.S. President Barack Obama tapped him for the job in 2009, @placeholder has made it clear that the United States needs to do a better job of treating addicts to try to reduce the demand for narcotics.