Drug Enforcement Agency lead Michele Leonhart is resigning due to a report of her involvement in inappropriate behavior.
Leonhart’s agents were apparently involved in unsanctioned, cartel-funded sex parties in Colombia. But her opposition, advocates of legalizing marijuana, is the happiest to see her go. Marijuana policy activists strongly disagreed with her strict opposition to both recreational and medicinal marijuana, according to Bloomberg.
“Hopefully this is a sign that the Reefer Madness era is coming to an end at the DEA,” said Mason Tvert, the director on communications at the Marijuana Policy Project. “Michelle Leonhart has maintained an opinion about marijuana akin to the opinion people had back in the 30s.”
Not only did a Department of Justice report have her tied to inappropriate behavior, but the majority of lawmakers on the House Oversight committee also expressed that they had “no confidence” in her leadership.
“This is a very exciting moment for the Drug Policy Reform movement,” Tom Angell, the founder of Marijuana Majority, said. “We’ve been basically working towards her resignation or firing or removal by other means as head of the DEA since the president, for some reason, decided to appoint her.”
Many among the advocates were disappointed with Obama, and naturally shocked, that he reappointed Leonhart in 2010. Not only did she have a strong resistance from marijuana law supporters, but in 2011 she was also criticized for saying that increased drug war violence in Mexico was “a sign of success in the fight against drugs.” Then in 2012, Leonhart refused to say whether marijuana was safer than crack at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing.
In January of 2014, Obama publicly stated that marijuana was safer than alcohol. No sooner did Leonhart criticize president Obama and his comments saying that it was the lowest of her 33 years in law enforcement.
“Obviously we shouldn’t judge her based on her one comment, but it’s a very telling comment,” Tvert said. He also said that the next DEA chair “must be willing and able to recognize the fact that marijuana is relatively less harmful than alcohol and other illegal drugs.”
Leonhart had her stance on marijuana science set from the get-go. Cannabis is a schedule one drug still at this time, along with heroin. When a petition requested a reclassification of marijuana, Leonhart said that she rejected it because marijuana ‘has a high potential for abuse’ and ‘has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States’ and ‘lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision.’
At the same time, there is research showing that marijuana is in fact not as lethal as other drugs and it is a proven success for use in multiple medical conditions.
