Bill Piper, Director of Drug Policy Alliance's Office of National Affairs. declares DEA Chief Michele Leonhart Should Resign and I agree. If she doesn't, President Obama should demand she leave as she is constantly and publicly undermining both the President's and Attorney General Eric Holder's announced policies by opposing bipartisan drug sentencing reform and having the DEA continue to arrest growers and medical marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized it.
For months Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart has openly rebuked the drug policy reform policies of Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama with one embarrassing statement after another. Now she is picking a fight with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Y) and other members of Congress over hemp. Meanwhile the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General has launched an investigation into multiple scandals plaguing the agency. It is clear that Leonhart lacks the ability to lead and should resign. Activists are using the Twitter hashtag #FireLeonhart.
The DEA created a political firestorm this week when it seized seeds bound for a Kentucky hemp research program that was approved by Congress. Even Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has weighed in, telling Politico last night, "It is an outrage that DEA is using finite taxpayer dollars to impound legal industrial hemp seeds."
Earlier this month the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General launched investigations into numerous DEA scandals, including the massacre of civilians in Honduras, the use of NSA data to both spy on virtually all Americans and to systematically fabricate evidence, controversial uses of confidential informants, airline passenger searches, and sexual misconduct. DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart herself has been at the center of several scandals, including the House of Death scandal in which the DEA may have turned a blind eye to torture and murder, and the Andrew Chambers scandal, in which the DEA rehired a confidential informant with a history of lying.
This miserable DEA Czar continues to put people in jail for operating legal dispensaries in states that have legalized marijuana, seizing their assets, destroying their lives, making Democrats and President Obama look ridiculous, and driving many young people to look at that whacko Senator Rand Paul, who is "harshing our mellow," and "drinking our milkshake" with this crowd.
Michele Leonhart publicly rebuked President Obama for admitting that marijuana is as safe as alcohol. WTH? Why does President Obama tolerate this? Leonhart was a mistaken holdover from the Bush administration and is a "cold-warrior of the "war on drugs."
She has also been aggressively obstructing scientific research, so research scientists can not get permits for medical grade marijuana. She has unilateral blocked recommendations for alternative suppliers by the DEA's Administrative Law Judge, as well as blocked efforts to move marijuana off of the Schedule 1 list, as nearly all scientist and doctors recommend, that is preventing current research.
Many members of Congress and more than 120 groups from ""across the political spectrum" have called on Leonhart to resign, including "the ACLU, Witness for Peace, the Drug Policy Alliance, and the International Drug Policy Consortium."
Most people think our nation has taken a more relaxed and sane posture towards illegal drugs and marijuana use, but I am told that over 750,000 American were arrested for marijuana related offenses last year, which tremendously damages their career prospects. Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but getting arrested for it can be tremendously damaging to your life and family, especially if you are a person of color, or a minority. Our drug laws are racist, and Michele Leonhart is the primary person aggressively fighting against progress.
Please let President Obama know we want progress now, and demand the resignation of Michele Leonhart
#FireLeonhart
8:06 PM PT:
Let's all chant together!
Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!
Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!Leonhart must go!
Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!
Leonhart must go!Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!
Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!Leonhart must go!
Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!
Leonhart must go!Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!
Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!Leonhart must go!
Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!
Leonhart must go!Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!
Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!Leonhart must go!
Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!Leonhart must go! Leonhart must go!
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8:23 PM PT: Thanks to Notreadytobenice for this link to the petition at www.change.org
Petitioning President Barack Obama - Fire Anti-Marijuana DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart!
9:24 PM PT: Thanks to greenbird and catte nappe for editing advice.