Amid a spiralling addiction crisis, US President Joe Biden is tapping West Virginia’s former health commissioner Indian-American Dr Rahul Gupta as the country’s top drug policy official, according to media reports on Tuesday.

Dr Gupta, the top health official at maternal-and-child advocacy group March of Dimes, is set to be nominated as the next director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Washington Post reported, quoting two White House officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Recently, Gupta was hailed for his data-driven drug treatment work in West Virginia, a state ravaged by the opioid epidemic. His method of identifying high-risk people for overdose has become a national standard.

Dr Gupta also led Biden’s transition efforts for the drug policy office and would be the first physician to serve as a drug czar if confirmed. 

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“President Biden’s nomination of Dr Rahul Gupta to be the first physician ever to lead the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is another historic step in the Administration’s efforts to turn the tide of our nation’s addiction and overdose epidemic,” the White House said in a statement, according to Washington Post.

“We hope he will be confirmed by the Senate soon.”

The primary doctor would replace Regina LaBelle, who has served as the office’s acting director since January.

The three-decade-old drug policy office coordinates national policy around fighting substance-use disorders, including the response to an opioid crisis that has worsened during the pandemic.

Gupta, a specialist in internal medicine and preventive medicine, has publicly warned that the pandemic probably exacerbated addiction-related public health problems, citing the shift from in-person care.

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“When those services are either shut down or turned into virtual services, more people can be denied those services and that only leads to more suffering,” Gupta told Sinclair Broadcast Group in a news report recently.

Gupta, an ally of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), has been favoured for months to take the role of drug czar, but he faced resistance from some anti-addiction advocates.  

Following the emergence of reports of his selection, Manchin tweeted: “Dr Rahul Gupta’s nomination to serve as the Director of the @ONDCP means someone with firsthand knowledge of the opioid crisis, especially in #WV, will be coordinating the national fight against the drug epidemic that continues to ravage our nation.”