The independent White House office headed by the nation’s “drug czar” reportedly is coordinating an anti-marijuana messaging effort to counter “one-sided” public debate about the drug.
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy convened a July 27 meeting of a group referred to as the Marijuana Policy Coordination Committee, BuzzFeed reports, and afterward sought to centralize negative trend data.
The apparent secret effort to influence political debate comes after nine states and the nation’s capital legalized recreational use, with more than half of states allowing marijuana for medical use.
Trump has given just one public remark about marijuana since taking office, saying in June that “I really do” support efforts by Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., to protect state-legal pot programs from the Justice Department.
“I know exactly what he’s doing, we’re looking at it, but I probably will end up supporting that, yes,” Trump said.
As a candidate, Trump said repeatedly that he supports state autonomy on recreational marijuana and that he supports legal access to medical marijuana. But some of his nominees, notably including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, oppose relaxing federal pot law, which still makes it illegal to possess the drug for any reason outside limited research.
Gardner blocked Justice Department nominees after Sessions in January withdrew the 2013 Cole Memo, a Justice Department policy document that gave a green-light for states to regulate recreational sales. Sessions also unsuccessfully requested that Congress drop a budget rider preventing the Justice Department from targeting state-legal medical pot.
Nine departments reportedly sent representatives to the July meeting of the Marijuana Policy Coordination Committee, including the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
After the meeting, the committee reportedly sent a request this month to 14 federal agencies and the Drug Enforcement Administration for “data demonstrating the most significant negative trends” about marijuana.
BuzzFeed did not publish original copies of documents it cited, or identify individuals leading the committee.
A summary of the July meeting cited by BuzzFeed said “[t]he prevailing marijuana narrative in the U.S. is partial, one-sided, and inaccurate.”
“Staff believe that if the administration is to turn the tide on increasing marijuana use there is an urgent need to message the facts about the negative impacts of marijuana use, production, and trafficking on national health, safety, and security,” the summary said.
The follow-up memo reportedly said, “Departments should provide … the most significant data demonstrating negative trends, with a statement describing the implications of such trends.”
The ONDCP is currently led by acting director James Carroll, who Trump nominated in April to permanently lead the office.
A spokesman for the ONDCP did not respond to a request for comment. It’s unclear if the office would argue that it was gathering information to discourage marijuana use as a matter of public health, rather than in a bid to influence political discussions about marijuana.
Early in Trump’s administration, the Office of Management and Budget recommended a 95 percent budget cut for ONDCP, finding its functions duplicative of other federal efforts. The cut didn’t happen, after lawmakers said it would be irresponsible to gut the office amid a national surge in opioid overdose deaths.
Although the secretive marijuana committee requested negative trends, there are some positive ones since states began legalizing adult recreational use. Many surveys show teen marijuana use stable or declining, both nationally and in states that legalized. State and federal tax revenue has increased, and studies have linked legal access to less opioid use and fewer overdose deaths.
Opponents of marijuana generally cite concern about increased marijuana use and associated effects on mental health and road safety. Both sides of the debate say their position can help decrease crime.
Michael Collins, interim director of national affairs at the pro-legalization Drug Policy Alliance, expressed disappointment in the news. “To see this White House – that cannot even coordinate an adequate response to the overdose crisis – waste so much time on discussions on how to push anti-marijuana legalization propaganda is mind-boggling, and underscores this administration’s ineptitude on drug policy,” he said.
Kevin Sabet, an anti-legalization activist who leads the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said “we have not worked with this specific committee” on marijuana policy. Sabet, who worked at ONDCP during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, has engaged with various officials on pot policy, including Sessions.
Voters in Michigan and North Dakota will consider legalizing recreational use of marijuana in November. New Jersey, meanwhile, may be poised to do so through legislation, despite opposition led by New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus chairman and state Sen. Ron Rice, a Democrat. Rice expressed concern this month about stores selling various marijuana-infused products, including “sex toy oils with marijuana.”
