Obama Chooses Terrible Nominee to Head the DEA
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http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy/2010/jan/27/obama_chooses_terrible_nominee_h
by <http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/smorgan>Scott Morgan, January 27,
2010, 12:05am
Posted in:
After stalling for a whole year, the White House has finally
announced Obama's choice to head the DEA. And there isn't anything
good to be said about it:
For those
<http://reason.com/blog/2009/02/12/the-next-drug-czar-is-the-best>hoping
that Barack Obama would wage the war on drugs less aggressively than
his predecessor, this is not a good sign: Yesterday he
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts>announced
that the new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration will be
<http://www.justice.gov/dea/agency/leonhartp.html>Michele Leonhart, a
career DEA agent who has been the agency's deputy administrator since
March 2004 and its acting administrator since November 2007.
[<http://reason.com/blog/2010/01/26/meet-the-new-dea-administrator>Reason]
For all the recent rhetoric about changing the focus of our drug
policy and moving beyond the war mentality that's gripped this issue
for decades, the White House now plans to promote a Bush
Administration holdover who couldn't more perfectly embody the ugly
history we're all working so hard to put behind us.
It was Leonhart who gave marching orders in the federal war on
medical marijuana, right up to and
<http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/569/DEA_raid_medical_marijuana_dispensary_first_obama>even
<http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/571/DEA_raids_more_medical_marijuana_dispensaries_under_obama_administration>after
the Obama Administration pledged to respect state laws. She
celebrated the inauguration with a cleverly-timed, though
transparently dishonest move to
<http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/567/DEA_rejects_marijuana_rescheduling_petition>continue
blocking medical marijuana research despite the ruling of a DEA
administrative law judge. She's been
<http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/dea-bad-girl-michele-leonhart/>closely
tied to the sketchiest career informant in DEA history, even making
light of his reputation for perjury. And she even managed to get her
name in the press by
<http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/573/DEA_administrator_colombia_flight_123000>wasting
$123,000 in taxpayer money on a private flight to Colombia, even
though the DEA owns 106 airplanes.
Leonhart's nomination is an affront to the Obama Administration's
promises of a more enlightened drug policy approach. It's also a
clear statement that they don't think we're paying attention to the
faces behind the drug war's rich and recent history of arrogance,
ignorance and injustice. Let's prove them wrong by opposing this
embarrassing nomination as loudly as we can.
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact>Please contact the White House
today to tell them that Michele Leonhart's DEA career has already
gone on far too long.
John Johnson
Change-Links Progressive Newspaper
[email protected]
http://change-links.org
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