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Dr. Rahul Gupta, the former top health officer in the Mountain State, is President Joe Biden’s pick to become the nation’s top anti-drug official. If the U.S. Senate approves his nomination, Gupta will be the first physician to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a position commonly referred to as the drug czar. It’s the second time during his first year in office that Biden has tapped a West Virginian for a federal post. Biden appointed Gayle Manchin, wife of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., as co-chairwoman of the Appalachian Regional Commission earlier this year. (Pierson, 7/13)

The nomination drew bipartisan praise from West Virginia officials. Republican Gov. Jim Justice called it “great news,” and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said the pick “means someone with firsthand knowledge of the opioid crisis, especially in West Virginia, will be coordinating the national fight against the drug epidemic that continues to ravage our nation.” “Dr. Gupta will bring over a decade of extensive experience combatting the drug epidemic to ONDCP – the office charged with addressing the drug epidemic that has killed over 90,000 Americans just last year,” Manchin said in a statement. (Miller, 7/13)

President Biden will nominate noted surgeon and writer Atul Gawande for a global health position at the U.S. Agency for International Development, the White House said Tuesday. Gawande is a surgeon at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has professorships at Harvard’s medical and public health schools, and has written top-selling books and for the New Yorker about medicine and health policy. (Joseph, 7/13)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Finance Chairman Ron Wyden and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker will release a discussion draft of their marijuana legalization bill at a press conference Wednesday, according to a person familiar with their plans. The bill will be called the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act and is expected to remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances. The bill would also tax and regulate marijuana on the federal level, while leaving states able to enforce their own laws regarding the drug. (Dennis, 7/13)