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Podcasts Take Two
America's drug czar Gil Kerlikowske is moving on
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Aug 14, 2013
Listen • 6:55
America's drug czar Gil Kerlikowske is moving on
Gil Kerlikowske's main job was to lead the nation's fight on drug abuse, but he's been largely under the radar since he was tapped to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in 2009.
Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy, testifies before Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Global Narcotics Affairs Subcommittee hearing on "A Shared Responsibility: Counternarcotics and Citizen Security in the Americas" at the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2011.
Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy, testifies before Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Global Narcotics Affairs Subcommittee hearing on "A Shared Responsibility: Counternarcotics and Citizen Security in the Americas" at the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2011.
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JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
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Gil Kerlikowske's main job was to lead the nation's fight on drug abuse, but he's been largely under the radar since he was tapped to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in 2009.

America's Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske is moving on. 

Don't know who that is? You're not alone. One McClatchy reporter writes he was, "forgotten long before he was ever known to most Americans."

He's been largely under the radar since he was tapped to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in 2009. His main job was to lead the nation's fight on drug abuse, but Kerlikowske may soon be heading to a post overseeing the country's customs and border agency.

While we wait to hear back from him for an exit interview, we do want to examine his time in office and where that department might be heading.

Kevin Sabet is a director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida. He's also a former senior advisor to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and worked directly for Gil Kerlikowske.