Pubdate: Wed, 07 Mar 2012
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2012 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Felisa Cardona, The Denver Post

DENVER'S NEW DEA CHIEF PLANS TO LIVE IN A CITY WHERE DISPENSARIES ARE
BANNED 

Barbra Roach just arrived in Colorado a month ago, but as the
head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Denver, she's
already watched her agents participate in one of the largest drug
busts in state history.

Roach is the new special agent in charge responsible for overseeing
Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana. She replaced Jeff Sweetin, who
was promoted to run the DEA's training center in Virginia.

Roach joined the DEA in 1987, and for a short while, she was the only
female agent in Tampa, Fla., where she grew up.

"I never saw a glass ceiling," she said. "They were always nurturing
to anyone who had potential."

Roach didn't initially plan on becoming a federal drug agent. She set
her goals first on law school to study criminal law but changed her
mind because she didn't desire to sit at a desk all day. "It's more
fun to catch 'em than to cook 'em," she said.

Roach graduated with a bachelor's degree in social and behavioral
science from the University of South Florida. She began her law
enforcement career in the Tampa area, as a Hillsborough County
sheriff's deputy, before she joined the DEA.

For a decade, Roach worked on drug cases in Texas; Fresno, Calif.; and
Philadelphia. She rose through the ranks from agent to group
supervisor to assistant special agent in charge.

Her best case was "Operation Snow Boat" in Galveston, Texas, when she
and other agents found 11 tons of cocaine coming into the port from a
stash farm in Venezuela.

Before she came to Denver, Roach was working for the DEA in Maryland
in charge of worldwide security for agents and the agency's
information systems.

Right now, she is choosing a city for her husband and two children to
live in where no marijuana dispensaries are allowed.

"By federal law, marijuana is illegal," she said. "There is no medical
proof it has any benefit. People are not taking into account what can
happen to those who are growing it. There are homes with mold and
water damage in the hundreds of thousands, and there are children in
there too."

Roach says the bottom line is marijuana is illegal despite state law
that legalized it for medical use. But Roach concedes the DEA has
limited resources and she says the division will focus on dismantling
the "top echelon" of drug organizations.

"I want to see the cases we work are quality," she said. "I want to
continue to strive for the large drug-trafficking organizations, not
just domestically, but internationally."
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.