cannabisnews.com: DEA Chief Says Marijuana-Trafficking Spiking
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DEA Chief Says Marijuana-Trafficking Spiking
Posted by CN Staff on May 01, 2014 at 07:40:13 PT
By Sari Horwitz
Source: Washington Post
Washington, D.C. -- The Drug Enforcement Administration is concerned about a surge in the illegal shipment of marijuana from Colorado since the state legalized the drug, and is trying to crack down on minors’ use of the substance, the head of the agency said Wednesday.Administrator Michele Leonhart said the DEA is troubled by the increase in marijuana trafficking in states surrounding Colorado and worries that the same phenomenon could be repeated around Washington state, where recreational marijuana is expected to be sold legally soon. In Kansas, she said, there has been a 61 percent increase in seizures of marijuana from Colorado.
Speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Leonhart said the softening of attitudes nationwide about the risk of marijuana has confirmed some of the agency’s fears.“The trends are what us in law enforcement had expected would happen,” she said. “In 2012, 438,000 Americans were addicted to heroin. And 10 times that number were dependent on marijuana.”The Obama administration released a memo in August saying it would not challenge legalization laws in Colorado and Washington as long as the two states maintained strict rules regarding the sale and distribution of the drug. In the memo, Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole stressed that marijuana remains illegal under federal law.The Justice Department directed federal prosecutors not to target individual users but instead to focus on eight areas of enforcement. Those aims include preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors, stopping the drug from being grown on public land, keeping marijuana from falling into the hands of cartels and gangs, and preventing the diversion of the drug to states where it remains illegal.DEA officials have expressed frustration privately about the legalization of marijuana by Colorado and Washington state, where local officials consider the change an opportunity to generate tax revenue and boost tourism.But in January, James. L. Capra, the DEA’s chief of operations, called marijuana legalization at the state level “reckless and irresponsible,” and warned that the decriminalization movement would have dire consequences.“It scares us,” he said during a Senate hearing. “Every part of the world where this has been tried, it has failed time and time again.”Two years ago, nine former DEA administrators wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to express their concern about the states’ movements to legalize marijuana and urge him to oppose the ballot initiatives.“To continue to remain silent conveys to the American public and the global community a tacit acceptance of these dangerous initiatives,” wrote the former administrators, who oversaw the DEA under Democratic and Republican presidents from 1973 to 2007.On Wednesday, Leonhart spoke about why she thinks marijuana is dangerous. She said that marijuana-related emergency-room visits increased by 28 percent between 2007 and 2011 and that one in 15 high school seniors is a near-daily marijuana user. Since 2009, she said, more high school seniors have been smoking pot than smoking cigarettes.Marijuana advocates say that concerns about the drug’s danger are exaggerated. In an interview with the New Yorker magazine, President Obama compared the use of marijuana to drinking alcohol.“As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life,” he said. “I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol.”Leonhart also spoke out in support of mandatory minimum sentencing for drug crimes, an issue Holder has highlighted recently as part of his initiative to reduce prison crowding and foster equity in criminal sentencing.Holder has instructed his 93 U.S. attorneys to use their discretion in charging low-level, nonviolent criminals with offenses that impose severe mandatory sentences.Leonhart, in response to a question from Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), said: “Having been in law enforcement as an agent for 33 years [and] a Baltimore City police officer before that, I can tell you that for me and for the agents that work at the DEA, mandatory minimums have been very important to our investigations. We depend on those as a way to ensure that the right sentences equate the level of violator we are going after.”Source: Washington Post (DC) Author: Sari HorwitzPublished: April 30, 2014Copyright: 2014 Washington Post CompanyContact: letters washpost.com Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/RSHmch1fCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #8 posted by runruff on May 01, 2014 at 21:37:59 PT
33 years in service as a federal cop.
This entitles this little trough sponge to 75% of her base salary+medical for life.Quite the reward for 33 years of raze and ruin. Very high self praise for a home destroyer and murderess. A very bullish hubris for someone with so little understanding. So much power bestowed on someone with so little humanity. So much make-up wasted on a strain of ugly that just can't be mended!
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Comment #7 posted by MikeEEEEE on May 01, 2014 at 16:37:20 PT
We must!!!!!!
save the ccchhhhiillldddrrreeennn!!!!!!!!!WARNING....WARNING..WARNING..BS detector overload!!!!
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Comment #6 posted by Victimless Tragedy on May 01, 2014 at 12:54:04 PT:
I call total BS!!!
For years and years the states surrounding Colorado most likely Kansas,Nebraska and, Missouri have been the leaders in robbing people on the side of the interstate for multiple years this has been going on and this "increase" is definitely nothing new?? The mainstream media has never known of any of this information, because for years they"organized corruption of law enforcement" have been using these seizures of cannabis and money as a form of welfare for law enforcement, free vehicles, free money, and most importantly free cannabis some of which has been resold back to the state of Colorado... This information can be confirmed through the (freedom of information act)which would show this is not new news because of legalization... They don't want you to know what they've been up to for years.
I personally know of multiple people that were pulled over robbed and never charged, more so in the recent past 4 years that this has happened arrested, robbed, questioned with there info taken into a database and then told they had 48hrs to leave town after being dropped off at the nearest hotel... That is fact! I was in a vehicle in 2004 in Russell Ka. That this happened to we were arrested robbed charged actually with possession with intent and traveling with cannabis through state lines without a marijuana tax stamp yes that is a real charge, the end result was we were bonded out and told to return in 2 months for court, this never took place because they told our lawyers that they were amending the charge to simple possession...(misdemeanor) After they stole the cannabis, the vehicle, our luggage, and the other passengers dog!!! TRUTH it's all about bullying and intimidation for years with these guys who claim this legalization is causing more problems for them and the country when this has been there #1 form of funding for these a holes. Think about if you've ever been through any of those surrounding states and notices it's desolate and not much there, they have no funding for law enforcement so they post up at the major interstates 80 and 70 and profit tramendously from patrolling for cannabis "the sitting duck" and reap what it has to offer...Sad that these DEA agents are feeding propaganda to the masses and not playing fair, I mean this country was founded on free enterprise, why wouldn't anyone not see that cannabis should be in every part of the country just as these individuals risking there freedoms for bringing it to the masses for profit or otherwise. The US govt has been doing this in all forms since it's inception and we all know most likely for profit, we the people have been misinformed and history is trying to repeat itself...
Question Everything sovereignty of the mind is they key.
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Comment #5 posted by cannabissaves on May 01, 2014 at 09:31:31 PT:
she does look like at (runfuff)
I always thougt she look like if diarrhea had a face. But little troll is more better.she looks like that trool from earnest scared stupid
(I think that how u spell his man ) quick someone get some milk
lol
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Comment #4 posted by cannabissaves on May 01, 2014 at 09:27:50 PT:
same old song and dance
His wing nut said the same thing when CO went medical I was I could find the story. But it was almost word for word.I mean this is stupied .she gets paid by big pharma and otber companies that dont want it legal.hiw about the pain pill that come from FL There craking down but just as many pills get trough. And its bud there talking about marijuana has very little chances for causing harm.it lest it from a dispensarywere its tested and not mixed with any other drugs the government gets taxs .if people want to smoke if do it at there own house in own time there is nothing wrong most likly there not hurting any body .it all about the dollars and what her real bosses want .she can care less about justice and what fare. In her mind cannabis is a dangerous ya its dangerous to her corporate masters pockets
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Comment #3 posted by bullhead on May 01, 2014 at 09:19:26 PT:
kids
more high school seniors have been smoking pot than smoking cigarettes.....
Is that a bad thing?
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on May 01, 2014 at 09:19:13 PT
dependent
"And 10 times that number were dependent on marijuana."dependent! Thanks for using a more correct term, instead of addicted.I'm dependent on air and water. Maybe, you should add these to your federal schedules and start arresting people for air abuse and for water abuse.
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on May 01, 2014 at 08:47:33 PT
That creapy little troll in uniform!
Aaarg! Will somebody please put a sock in it!
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