Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 2015
Source: Time Magazine (US)
Copyright: 2015 Time Inc
Contact:  http://www.time.com/time/magazine
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/451
Author: Maya Rhodan

MARIJUANA REFORM ACTIVISTS PUSH FOR CHANGE WITH DEA HEAD

And the resignation of Chief of Administration Michele Leonhart offers 
the chance for change

Marijuana legalization advocates are excited about the departure of 
Michele Leonhart, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, whom 
they long considered an obstruction in their goal of reforming the 
nation's drug laws.

"We are happy to see her go," says Dan Riffle, the director of federal 
policies at the Marijuana Policy Project. "She's a career drug warrior 
at a time when we've decided the `War on Drugs' is an abject failure."

Leonhart has been at the DEA for 35 years and served as the top dog 
since 2007. Though the recent scandal involving agents soliciting sex 
from prostitutes is what will likely most clearly tarnish her 
reputation, her position on drug policy has led marijuana reform 
activists to call for her resignation, says says Neill Franklin of Law 
Enforcement Against Prohibition. Franklin, a veteran of the Maryland 
state police, calls her position on marijuana reform "archaic."

Marijuana legalization advocates are excited about the departure of 
Michele Leonhart, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, whom 
they long considered an obstruction in their goal of reforming the 
nation's drug laws.

"We are happy to see her go," says Dan Riffle, the director of federal 
policies at the Marijuana Policy Project. "She's a career drug warrior 
at a time when we've decided the `War on Drugs' is an abject failure."

Leonhart has been at the DEA for 35 years and served as the top dog 
since 2007. Though the recent scandal involving agents soliciting sex 
from prostitutes is what will likely most clearly tarnish her 
reputation, her position on drug policy has led marijuana reform 
activists to call for her resignation, says says Neill Franklin of Law 
Enforcement Against Prohibition. Franklin, a veteran of the Maryland 
state police, calls her position on marijuana reform "archaic."
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Leonhart has been a major hurdle in the effort to reconsider marijuana 
as a Schedule 1 substance, which could pave the way for more research 
into the health benefits of the drug. In 2011, the agency again rejected 
a petition to reschedule marijuana. According to the Drug Policy 
Alliance, the agency spent about $100 million in 2012 alone on 
enforcement regarding medical marijuana laws.
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"Leonhart opposed medical marijuana, she opposed sentencing reform, she 
opposed pretty much everything that Obama was doing and for that matter 
everything Congress was doing," says Bill Piper, the director of 
National Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance.

The Drug Policy Alliance is one of several drug and marijuana policy 
organizations that have previously called for Leonhart's removal. 
Following a speech in which Leonhart was critical of Obama's assertion 
that smoking marijuana was no more harmful that drinking alcohol, the 
Marijuana Policy Project and over 47,000 citizens called for her to 
resign. A Drug Policy Alliance petition called for her removal following 
revelations that the DEA had been tracking citizens' phone calls for 
decades. Organizations including Students for Sensible Drug Policy and 
the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws have also called 
for her resignation.

Though who will be filling in for Leonhart isn't yet clear, activists 
say her replacement should be more supportive of ongoing reform 
initiatives, including reducing mass incarceration and taking the health 
impact of drugs into consideration when formulating policy. What's more, 
Piper says, her removal could lead the Obama administration to 
reschedule marijuana before the President leaves office.

"This offers a good opportunity for marijuana reform to move forward 
quicker than it has been moving," Piper says.

More than that, though, it could signal and even steeper change to 
policy regarding the enforcement of drug laws. As more states consider 
legalizing marijuana in some form-23 states have legalized medical use 
and four have given the green light to toking up recreationally. Six 
additional states could consider legalization during the 2016 election. 
As the nation's stance on that shifts, so too should its approach to 
drug enforcement, advocates say.

"Within the next 10 years, I see massive drug policy reform and 
therefore really an end to the DEA," Franklin says. The new leader, he 
says, should approach the role as if he or she is "dismantling a 
decommissioned battleship and selling the pieces for scrap metal."

"For most part, the DEA exists because they're enforcing prohibition," 
he adds. "I believe we're moving away from prohibition and more toward 
health."
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