Legalization advocates criticize ex-DEA chiefs
UN: Legal recreational marijuana use in Colorado, Washington violates international drug treaties
In this photo taken Feb. 14, 2013, Peter Bensinger, a former Drug Enforcement Administration chief under Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, speaks at a news conference in Chicago. Bensinger is one of eight former DEA chiefs that say the federal government needs to act now or it might lose the chance to nullify Colorado and Washington's laws legalizing recreational marijuana use. They plan to issue joint statements Tuesday, March 5, 2013, saying the Obama administration has reacted too slowly and should immediately sue to force the states to rescind the legislation. Photo: M. Spencer Green
A national group advocating less-stringent drugs laws is criticizing eight former Drug Enforcement Administration chiefs for their call to nullify new laws in Colorado and Washington legalizing recreational marijuana use.
The New York-based Drug Policy Alliance said in a statement Tuesday that the former administrators have a vested interest in defending policies they promoted for decades but that many Americans are now rejecting.
The group's executive director, Ethan Nadelmann, says the ex-officials face the same legacy as agents who enforced alcohol prohibition in the 1920s and early 1930s. It was eventually viewed as a failure and reversed.
The ex-DEA chiefs say federal law banning marijuana use has supremacy over state laws. They've urged the Obama administration to try to nullify the Washington and Colorado laws.
