In a recent hearing with a Congressional subcommittee, Drug Enforcement Administration director Michele Leonhart said her agency is not and never has been interested in busting illegal drug users or medical marijuana patients. Obama’s leading enforcer of controlled substances claims the pulse of the drug war is only focused on cartels and other drug-slinging members of organized crime.
“DEA has never targeted drug users of any kind, especially marijuana users,” Leonhart testified before lawmakers. “We don’t target users, we don’t target patients. … DEA targets the baddest of the bad, the worst of the worst, the highest-level traffickers.”
While Leonhart may have somehow convinced herself that the swill she was preaching earlier this week on Capitol Hill was true, there are a wealth of marijuana users, including five people in the newly legalized pot market of Washington state, who are currently facing federal prison sentences that might beg to differ.
According to reports, four family members and a close friend, who have since been nicknamed the “Kettle Falls Five,” are currently facing heat from the federal government over a medical marijuana garden the DEA raided in 2012. All five have refused to accept plea agreements from the prosecution and a jury trial is set to get underway at the beginning of December.
During Thursday’s subcommittee hearing, Leonhart stated that while DEA henchmen are not out there busting the average pot smoker, the agency still maintains that “state laws authorizing the smoking of marijuana or the consumption of crude extracts that have not undergone scientific testing demonstrating that they are both safe and effective” pose a great risk to public health.
Yet, Leonhart testified before lawmakers that she fully intends to support proposals introduced by Attorney General Eric Holder to decrease mandatory minimum sentences, as long as the law still serves to bury hardcore drug traffickers under the shithouse stalls of federal penitentiaries across the nation. This week’s exchange was typical of Leonhart, who several years ago, refused to admit that marijuana is a less dangerous substance than cocaine or heroin.
Chef Maverick creates feel-good sauces and snacks that cater to dietary restrictions.
If signed into law, the Louisiana bill would establish a regulatory framework for recreational cannabis,…
The DEA is challenging an attempt by a Seattle physician to give psilocybin to terminally…
I was once angry. But weed helped. Then, weed kinda made me angry again.
A trend is emerging among poultry farmers who are converting operations to industrial hemp farms.
There's just a false sense of security related to the federal government to worry about.