Press Release: DEA's Senate Testimony Shows Legalizing Marijuana Would Hurt Cartels

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 10, 2010
CONTACT: Tom Angell - (202) 557-4979 or media//at//leap//dot//cc

DEA's Senate Testimony Shows Legalizing Marijuana Would Hurt Cartels

Pro-Legalization Police Group Supports California Ballot Measure

WASHINGTON, DC -- A group of police officers, judges and prosecutors who support legalizing marijuana is pointing to new congressional testimony from the FBI and DEA as evidence that the government's marijuana prohibition policy actually helps -- not hurts -- drug cartels.

Appearing before the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, representatives for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration testified last Wednesday that "marijuana is the top revenue generator for Mexican [cartels]—a cash crop that finances corruption and the carnage of violence year after year. The profits derived from marijuana trafficking—an industry with minimal overhead costs, controlled entirely by the traffickers—are used not only to finance other drug enterprises by Mexico’s poly-drug cartels, but also to pay recurring 'business' expenses, purchase weapons, and bribe corrupt officials."

The pro-legalization police group, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), believes that if California voters approve the marijuana legalization initiative on this November's ballot the Mexican drug cartels will lose a huge source of revenue.

"By legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana, California voters can ensure that the Mexican drug cartels who control the currently-illegal market will no longer be able to fund a bloody drug war with profits from marijuana sales to Californians," said Russ Jones, a LEAP speaker and former San Jose narcotics detective who is just one of dozens of California law enforcers actively supporting the initiative. "As a cop, I saw how prohibition doesn't prevent anyone from using marijuana but instead allows murderous gangsters and thugs to collect huge riches, just like during alcohol prohibition. It's time to put these criminals out of business with legalization and control."

The full FBI/DEA testimony can be read at http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress10/perkins050510.htm.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is an international organization representing police, prosecutors, judges, FBI/DEA agents and others who want to legalize and regulate drugs after fighting on the front lines of the "war on drugs" and learning firsthand that prohibition only serves to worsen addiction and violence. More info at http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com.

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Colorado vs. the DEA

This morning I read this story in the L.A. Times about a bipartisan group of Colorado lawmakers who wrote to the US Department of Justice to object to the DEA's recent raids on medical marijuana operations.

According to the story, the lawmakers want "to pass regulations that require dispensaries to grow their marijuana in rural or industrial areas — eliminating neighborhood grows — and have the state keep a confidential database of their location." However, they are "facing resistance because growers fear that the DEA could use the database to crack down on them."

So while the State of Colorado wants to regulate the medical cannabis industry in a way that benefits all citizens, the DEA wants to drive it underground and into the unregulated world of criminals and thugs.

Medical cannabis is going to be grown and sold. The question is who does it, where, and under what conditions. Either the State will regulate it or the black market will.

Colorado DEA Sweetin Must Be Disciplined Immediately and Publicly - Frieling

Responding to news reports from Colorado regarding the DEA's attempts to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries that are legal under Colorado state law and especially to the comments from Denver's DEA Special Agent in Charge, Jeffrey Sweetin (who appears to have a history of inappropriate actions when it comes to marijuana policy), Leonard Frieling, a LEAP speaker, sent the following letter to President Obama yesterday. It is posted with his permission. He encourages others to express their concerns as well.

Dear Mr. President

Denver DEA Special Agent in Charge, Jeffrey Sweetin says "Technically, every dispensary in the State [Colorado] is in blatant violation of federal law." "The time is coming when we go into a dispensary, we find out what their profit is, we seize the building, and we arrest everybody. They're violating federal law; they're at risk of arrest and imprisonment." [per AP, Denver Post, and the Boulder Daily Camera, pg. 1 , 2/14/2010].

This is in direct contradiction to your campaign promise, your "Holder Memo," and the Colorado State Constitution. This hypocrisy is not the government behavior that we demand of our elected leaders. A bit of consistent honesty should be a reasonable voter expectation.

SAC Sweetin has forgotten for whom he works, and requires an appropriate public reminder, whether that is a transfer, a public reprimand or a firing. His personal, incorrect belief, that "marijuana is not medicine" is ill-informed, and irrelevant to his job description, unless he insists on bringing his personal unscientific bias into his job, blatantly disregarding his office, his chain of command, and the Constitutions of Colorado and of the United States. As a part of the Executive Branch of our government, I believe that he works for you, Sir.

Thank you for your time and happy Valentine's Day.


Leonard I. Frieling

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: LEAP Forces DEA to Change Website, Problems Still Remain

Thanks to everyone who took action and contacted Attorney General Eric Holder this week, the DEA has removed from its website one false claim that the American Medical Association opposes medical marijuana.

This is a significant victory for truth, but we're not done yet. Believe it or not, other government websites hosted by DEA and the White house "drug czar" are still claiming that the AMA opposes medical marijuana.

Please visit http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com/dea to take action now. Tell Attorney General Eric Holder and "Drug Czar" Gil Kerlikowske that the government should stop using taxpayer money to spread misinformation about important topics like medical marijuana.

ACTION ALERT: Force DEA to Tell the Truth About Medical Marijuana

In a significant reversal, the American Medical Association on November 10 acknowledged the medical value of marijuana and called for the U.S. government to reconsider marijuana's current classification as a Schedule I substance (drugs that the government says have "no currently accepted medical use").

However, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) still claims on its website that, "The American Medical Association recommends that marijuana remain a Schedule I controlled substance."

Please use the form at http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com/dea to send a message to Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice, asking them to correct this misinformation on a government website.

DEA Fact #1

This is part one of a multi-part effort to examine the "facts" presented in the DEA guide to "Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization."

Fact #1 states, "We have made significant progress in fighting drug use and drug trafficking in America. Now is not the time to abandon our efforts."

The data and statistics supporting a fact like this should be accurate and credible. Yet a discrepancy quickly arises. Page four of the document states:

"To put things in perspective, less than 5 percent of the population uses illegal drugs of any kind. Think about that: More than 95 percent of Americans do not use drugs. How could anyone but the most hardened pessimist call this a losing struggle?"

On the next page, the following graph is presented:



Clearly, this leaves the reader confused as to whether 5% or 7% of Americans use drugs - a difference which would translate into millions of more drug users. This document is six years old, and it's been reviewed by many others, so if I am missing something obvious that makes both statistics valid then please correct me. Interestingly, Josh from AboveTheFlat.com further deconstructs the accuracy of the 95% number and suggests the actual drug use rate is much higher.

From LEAP's perspective, it is misleading to suggest that "now is not the time to abandon our efforts." A shift in drug policy would not mean the effort and energy put into reducing drug use would disappear. The effort from law enforcement would still be there. But it would be focused in a more humane, more productive and less harmful direction.