By Noelle Skodzinski
DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart is expected to resign, according to a report by CBS News, and drug policy organizations are pushing for an administrator who has what they consider to be more modern views on drug policy.
DEA Administrator Michele LeonhartDEA Administrator Michele Leonhart
Leonhart has held the top position at the Drug Enforcement Agency since December 2010, and served as Acting Administrator since November 2007 and as Deputy Administrator since 2004. She is reportedly resigning in the face of a controversial internal report that found that "government money was used to pay prostitutes at a farewell party for a high-ranking DEA official in Colombia," reports CBS News. "DEA agents also rented undercover apartments in Colombia and used them for parties with prostitutes, the DEA said in an internal report."
The DEA report was in response to an investigation following a March report by the Justice Department that, according to CBS News, "recounts allegations that DEA agents attended sex parties with prostitutes, funded by local drug cartels, in a foreign county." CBS further explains that the DEA report identified the foreign country as Columbia.
In a Tuesday hearing, "Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the oversight panel, said the new report 'details a truly breathtaking recklessness by DEA agents.' Cummings said he cannot understand how such 'egregious misconduct could have continued for so long' without being addressed," reports CBS News. "Cummings and other committee members sharply questioned Leonhart at Tuesday’s hearing, asking why agents were not fired, nor their names released."
According to CBS, Leonhart "responded that civil service protections make it difficult to fire DEA agents. As administrator, she is powerless to step in during disciplinary proceedings and in some cases cannot even revoke an agent’s security clearance."
Bill Piper, director of National Affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, wrote in an email letter to DPA constituents and supporters: "Now with Leonhart on the way out, there’s an opportunity for change. …Send a message to President Obama now. Urge him to appoint a new DEA chief that will overhaul the DEA and help reduce mass incarceration as a result of the failed war on drugs. It’s time for the DEA to move past its old fear mongering ways, and embrace policies grounded in health and human rights."
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), which had called for Leonhart’s resignation (for different reasons) last year in a Change.org petition, cites in a statement regarding the news of Leonhart's resignation a number of occasions on which Leonhart's actions were questionable, as they reflected her antiquated views on drug policy and, in particular, marijuana policy. Accoding to the MPP release: "During her tenure as DEA administrator, Leonhart:
- obstructed research into the medical benefits of marijuana by overruling the DEA’s own administrative law judge, who ruled that it would be in the public interest to end the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s monopoly on the supply of marijuana available for approved research;
- refused to answer a congressman’s question about whether marijuana poses less potential harm to the consumer than crack, heroin, or methamphetamine and criticized President Obama for acknowledging the fact that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol to the consumer;
- oversaw raids of medical marijuana dispensaries that were operating legally under state laws;
- reportedly called it the worst day of her 33 years in law enforcement when an American flag made of hemp was flown over the U.S. Capitol Building; and
- criticized the White House for playing in a softball game against a team of individuals from drug policy reform organizations."
“Ms. Leonhart consistently and recklessly undermined President Obama's mandate that public policy be guided by science instead of ideology," said Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for the MPP in the release. "Her resignation will allow the president to appoint an administrator who will rely on the facts rather than ignore them.
“Most Americans, including President Obama, recognize the fact that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. Yet, Ms. Leonhart was unwilling to even acknowledge that marijuana poses less potential harm than heroin and methamphetamine," continued Riffle. “While most of the country has been progressing in its views on marijuana policy, Ms. Leonhart has maintained a mindset straight out of the 1930s. Hopefully her resignation will mark the end of the ‘Reefer Madness’ era at the DEA.”
