DEA chief Michele Leonhart has resigned, following reports that DEA agents were frolicking around in sex parties with Colombian prostitutes hired by drug cartels. Marijuana legalization advocates are barely containing their glee, and hope to replace her with someone more receptive to their cause.
“Hopefully, her resignation will mark the end of the ‘Reefer Madness’ era at the DEA,” Dan Riffle, director of federal policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, told The Hill. Riffle claimed that Leonhart’s strict drug policies “recklessly undermined” Obama’s initial lenient attitude towards marijuana, and enforced a “mindset straight out of the 1930s.” In the past, Leonhart had publicly criticized Obama’s comments about marijuana in a meeting she thought was off the record.
“It’s an opportunity for President Obama to nominate someone who recognizes that the drug war is coming to an end, that what we’ve been doing for decades is not working,” said Tom Angell of Marijuana Majority.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), another legalization advocate, released an entire statement rejoicing at Leonhart’s departure. “It is appropriate that Michele Leonhart resign; she has not prioritized or concentrated on drugs that actually lead people to commit crimes like heroin and methamphetamine and she was insubordinate to the President when she criticized his acknowledgement of the fact that marijuana is no more harmful than alcohol,” he wrote. “Hopefully her successor will help lead the effort to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I, where it is currently restricted at the same level as heroin and at a higher level than more harmful drugs like cocaine.”
Cohen is the House sponsor of the medical marijuana bill championed by Senators Rand Paul, Cory Booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand, which would grant states a safe haven from the federal prohibition of medical marijuana and open up medical research into the drug.
Leonhart had presided over the DEA since 2007. She was grilled by legislators last week over reports that no agents were ever punished for cavorting with prostitutes. There will be further investiations into whether agents compromised any information during their sexual escapades.
Former agency chief Peter Bensinger told the Huffington Post he suspects the Obama administration is using the scandal as an excuse to get rid of Leonhart because of her rigid anti-pot views. “This was an incident that was used as a rallying point by the people who were opposed to her positions,” Bensinger said. “You have an administration that has turned their back on federal law. … People in this government and the White House and other places don’t like her taking the position that her oath of office requires.”
Obama himself, however, has not been particularly enthuisiastic about legalizing marijuana since he took office. Most recently, he told Vice, “Young people, I understand this is important to you, but you should be thinking about climate change, the economy, jobs, war and peace.”
