{"id":4969,"date":"2015-11-06T16:55:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T16:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/?p=45013"},"modified":"2015-11-06T16:55:25","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T16:55:25","slug":"new-dea-report-has-lots-of-goodies-for-marijuana-reformers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/new-dea-report-has-lots-of-goodies-for-marijuana-reformers\/","title":{"rendered":"New DEA Report Has Lots of Goodies for Marijuana Reformers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/new-dea-report-has-lots-of-goodies-for-marijuana-reformers\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>A new report from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) contains a number of tidbits that will make marijuana law reform supporters variously cheer, giggle or\u00a0scratch their heads.<\/p>\n<p>First off, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dea.gov\/docs\/2015%20NDTA%20Report.pdf\">National Drug Threat Assessment<\/a>, an annual publication, says it lists drugs &#8220;in ranking order based on the level of threat each drug presents.\u201d But it puts marijuana ahead of synthetic drugs and PCP.<\/p>\n<p>Next up, noting that &#8220;80 percent of states have approved some form of medical marijuana,&#8221; the document\u00a0includes a helpful map showing just how badly DEA and other prohibitionists are losing the state-by-state political debate on cannabis:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-45020\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-05-at-12.36.56-PM-1024x779.png?2a095a\" alt=\"DEA state marijuana laws map\" width=\"469\" height=\"426\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The 148-page report,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dea.gov\/divisions\/hq\/2015\/hq110415.shtml\">released on Wednesday<\/a>,\u00a0includes\u00a0input from 1,105 state and local law enforcement agencies across the country.\u00a0As The Washington Post&#8217;s Chris Ingraham <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/wonk\/wp\/2015\/11\/05\/marijuana-is-literally-the-least-of-the-nations-drug-worries-the-police-have-announced\/\">points out<\/a>, the\u00a0survey data those cops submitted to DEA\u00a0shows that they\u00a0don&#8217;t see marijuana as a big\u00a0threat relative to other drugs, despite the fact that\u00a0most of the drug arrests their departments make are focused on cannabis:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_45021\" style=\"width: 539px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-45021\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-05-at-1.35.08-PM-1024x909.png?2a095a\" alt=\"Chart via Washington Post\" width=\"529\" height=\"536\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chart via Washington Post<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a very clear sign of the failure of widespread prohibition to keep drugs away from kids, the report admits that &#8220;marijuana use continues to exceed tobacco use\u201d among high school students. Whereas the\u00a0cartels and gangs that control the illegal marijuana market in 46 states don&#8217;t ask customers for I.D., reform advocates argue, legal tobacco merchants\u00a0are highly incentivized to make sure they people they sell to are of legal age lest they be fined or lose their lucrative business licenses.<\/p>\n<p>The document also contains a sidebar on social media and lists hashtags like #420, #710, #BHO and#dabs:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-45028\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-05-at-12.48.28-PM-623x1024.png?2a095a\" alt=\"DEA report social media sidebar\" width=\"346\" height=\"556\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Most importantly from a policy perspective, the report contains several passages showing the real impact that the marijuana law reform movement&#8217;s success has had on DEA&#8217;s ability to chop down cannabis plants and arrest and jail the people who grow them.<\/p>\n<p>DEA-led cannabis eradication in California is down 64%, which the report says is partly caused by a \u201cshift in enforcement priorities due to state-approved marijuana&#8221; laws.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The number of arrests in\u00a0domestically-produced marijuana investigations\u00a0has also declined,&#8221; DEA adds. &#8220;This decline in marijuana arrests,\u00a0in particular those for domestic marijuana, and\u00a0marijuana cases is due in part to state-approved\u00a0marijuana measures.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The document also\u00a0includes these\u00a0charts showing a dramatic decline in the number of cannabis cultivation sites and plants DEA has been\u00a0able eradicate over the past five years as more state marijuana laws have come online and as the national political climate has become much more opposed to outright prohibition and its enforcement:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-45031\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-05-at-12.59.38-PM-754x1024.png?2a095a\" alt=\"DEA marijuana eradication charts\" width=\"428\" height=\"655\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And the report notes that\u00a0&#8220;domestic legalization initiatives\u201d could be cause of a big\u00a0decline in the amount of marijuana being smuggled\u00a0over the border from Mexico:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/CTEOk1jWcAA3w30.png\" alt=\"Embedded image permalink\" width=\"475\" height=\"372\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">But make no mistake: Despite the damning evidence against prohibition&#8217;s effectiveness, DEA isn&#8217;t about to endorse legalization.\u00a0The report even goes out of its way to make sure readers\u00a0understand the agency doesn&#8217;t think medical marijuana is an actual thing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When the term &#8216;medical marijuana&#8217; is used in this publication, it is exclusively in reference to state-approved &#8216;medical\u00a0marijuana,&#8217;&#8221; a footnote says. &#8220;Marijuana is a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substance Act with no accepted medical use in the<br \/>\nUnited States.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Separately, in a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/dea-chief-says-smoking-marijuana-as-medicine-is-a-joke\/\">argued<\/a> that medical marijuana is a &#8220;joke.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal &#8212; because it&#8217;s not,&#8221; Rosenberg said. &#8220;We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don&#8217;t call it medicine.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the increasing\u00a0latitude the Justice Department has given states to implement their own marijuana laws without much federal interference during\u00a0President Obama&#8217;s second term, it appears the drug warriors at DEA are still not happy about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new report from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) contains a number of tidbits that will make marijuana law reform supporters variously cheer, giggle or\u00a0scratch their heads.<\/p>\n<p>First off, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dea.gov\/docs\/2015%20NDTA%20Report.pdf\">National Drug Threat Assessment<\/a>, an annual publication, says it lists drugs &#8220;in ranking order based on the level of threat each drug presents.\u201d But it puts marijuana ahead of synthetic drugs and PCP.<\/p>\n<p>Next up, noting that &#8220;80 percent of states have approved some form of medical marijuana,&#8221; the document\u00a0includes a helpful map showing just how badly DEA and other prohibitionists are losing the state-by-state political debate on cannabis:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-45020\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-05-at-12.36.56-PM-1024x779.png?2a095a\" alt=\"DEA state marijuana laws map\" width=\"469\" height=\"426\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The 148-page report,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dea.gov\/divisions\/hq\/2015\/hq110415.shtml\">released on Wednesday<\/a>,\u00a0includes\u00a0input from 1,105 state and local law enforcement agencies across the country.\u00a0As The Washington Post&#8217;s Chris Ingraham <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/wonk\/wp\/2015\/11\/05\/marijuana-is-literally-the-least-of-the-nations-drug-worries-the-police-have-announced\/\">points out<\/a>, the\u00a0survey data those cops submitted to DEA\u00a0shows that they\u00a0don&#8217;t see marijuana as a big\u00a0threat relative to other drugs, despite the fact that\u00a0most of the drug arrests their departments make are focused on cannabis:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_45021\" style=\"width: 539px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-45021\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-05-at-1.35.08-PM-1024x909.png?2a095a\" alt=\"Chart via Washington Post\" width=\"529\" height=\"536\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chart via Washington Post<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a very clear sign of the failure of widespread prohibition to keep drugs away from kids, the report admits that &#8220;marijuana use continues to exceed tobacco use\u201d among high school students. Whereas the\u00a0cartels and gangs that control the illegal marijuana market in 46 states don&#8217;t ask customers for I.D., reform advocates argue, legal tobacco merchants\u00a0are highly incentivized to make sure they people they sell to are of legal age lest they be fined or lose their lucrative business licenses.<\/p>\n<p>The document also contains a sidebar on social media and lists hashtags like #420, #710, #BHO and#dabs:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-45028\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-05-at-12.48.28-PM-623x1024.png?2a095a\" alt=\"DEA report social media sidebar\" width=\"346\" height=\"556\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Most importantly from a policy perspective, the report contains several passages showing the real impact that the marijuana law reform movement&#8217;s success has had on DEA&#8217;s ability to chop down cannabis plants and arrest and jail the people who grow them.<\/p>\n<p>DEA-led cannabis eradication in California is down 64%, which the report says is partly caused by a \u201cshift in enforcement priorities due to state-approved marijuana&#8221; laws.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The number of arrests in\u00a0domestically-produced marijuana investigations\u00a0has also declined,&#8221; DEA adds. &#8220;This decline in marijuana arrests,\u00a0in particular those for domestic marijuana, and\u00a0marijuana cases is due in part to state-approved\u00a0marijuana measures.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The document also\u00a0includes these\u00a0charts showing a dramatic decline in the number of cannabis cultivation sites and plants DEA has been\u00a0able eradicate over the past five years as more state marijuana laws have come online and as the national political climate has become much more opposed to outright prohibition and its enforcement:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-45031\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-05-at-12.59.38-PM-754x1024.png?2a095a\" alt=\"DEA marijuana eradication charts\" width=\"428\" height=\"655\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And the report notes that\u00a0&#8220;domestic legalization initiatives\u201d could be cause of a big\u00a0decline in the amount of marijuana being smuggled\u00a0over the border from Mexico:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/CTEOk1jWcAA3w30.png\" alt=\"Embedded image permalink\" width=\"475\" height=\"372\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">But make no mistake: Despite the damning evidence against prohibition&#8217;s effectiveness, DEA isn&#8217;t about to endorse legalization.\u00a0The report even goes out of its way to make sure readers\u00a0understand the agency doesn&#8217;t think medical marijuana is an actual thing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When the term &#8216;medical marijuana&#8217; is used in this publication, it is exclusively in reference to state-approved &#8216;medical\u00a0marijuana,&#8217;&#8221; a footnote says. &#8220;Marijuana is a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substance Act with no accepted medical use in the<br \/>\nUnited States.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Separately, in a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/dea-chief-says-smoking-marijuana-as-medicine-is-a-joke\/\">argued<\/a> that medical marijuana is a &#8220;joke.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal &#8212; because it&#8217;s not,&#8221; Rosenberg said. &#8220;We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don&#8217;t call it medicine.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the increasing\u00a0latitude the Justice Department has given states to implement their own marijuana laws without much federal interference during\u00a0President Obama&#8217;s second term, it appears the drug warriors at DEA are still not happy about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2417,2437,9,1,3],"tags":[2419,2443],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4969"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}