Skip to main content

Mounting Pressure on DEA Head to Resign For Calling Medical Marijuana "A Joke"

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #911)
Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy

Medical marijuana patients and supporters gathered today at DEA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, to hand in more than 100,000 petition signatures demanding the resignation or firing of DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg after he called medical marijuana "a joke."

Medical marijuana is no joke said 100,000 signatures delivered to the DEA today. (wikimedia.org)

The petition, which was started only two weeks ago, has more than doubled the number of signatures on an earlier petition that helped prompt the ouster of Rosenberg's predecessor, former DEA head Michele Leonhart.

After walking from the nearby site of the International Drug Reform Conference, the group held a brief press conference in front of the DEA building. It was led by petition organizer Tom Angell of Marijuana Majority, whose own mother is a patient.

"My mom uses medical marijuana to deal with the severe pain caused by multiple sclerosis," he said. "This issue is no laughing matter for her and millions of other people who have seen the benefits of cannabis for themselves."

Also addressing the press conference were medical marijuana patients and the parents of young medical marijuana patients.

"There is no doubt that my son Jagger is alive today because of medical cannabis," said Sebastian Cotte, who helped carry the petitions. "Cannabis has tremendously decreased the pain and seizures caused by his mitochondrial disease, while improving his quality of life. For our family, this is no joke."

"There's nothing funny about suicidal thoughts, and those are something my family and I lived with day-to-day die to my military-related PTSD," said Navy veteran T.J. Thompson. "Using medical marijuana not only helps with my condition, but it has also had the added effect of making me a better father and husband."

Medical marijuana is now legal in 23 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam, and 17 more states have more limited laws allowing for the use of marijuana extracts, primarily for children suffering seizure disorders. According to Americans for Safe Access, which supported the petition, more than two million Americans now use medical marijuana in accordance with state laws.

An ever-increasing mountain of scientific studies have shown that medical marijuana is beneficial in alleviating the symptoms of serious conditions, including cancer, AIDS, epilepsy, and many others. With his remarks about medical marijuana as "a joke," DEA head Rosenberg made clear that he was either ignorant of the science around medical marijuana or indifferent to it.

The petition delivery came one day after a bipartisan group of members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama calling for Rosenberg's head, saying his comments "send a clear signal to the American people that the federal government isn't listening to them. It erodes trust. Cavalier statements like these fly in the face of state policy and the experience of millions of patients."

The letter blasted Rosenberg's statements as relics of "a throwback ideology rooted in the failed war on drugs" and accused him of "trivializing" both the science and the experience of millions of American who have used medical marijuana.

"Mr. Rosenberg's statements send a clear signal to the American people that the federal government isn't listening to them…Through his statements, Mr. Rosenberg has demonstrated that he is not the right person to hold the job of head of the DEA, and we urge you to find new leadership that can work to develop the right tools to properly rationalize our treatment of marijuana," the letter said.

It was signed by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Sam Farr (D-CA), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Ted Lieu (D-CA). Blumenauer himself took to the House floor to echo the call for Rosenberg's resignation or firing.

"This is going to be a political problem for the Obama administration until they fix it," warned Angell.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

suckers (not verified)

I'll believe it when I see it. The DEA kept Michele Leonfart in command forever no matter what bs she said. They only let her go because Her name was getting to well known.

Fri, 11/20/2015 - 3:50pm Permalink
Tony Aroma (not verified)

The guy's just doing his job: clearly and succinctly stating the federal government's position on medical marijuana.  Not sure why a representative of the federal government should be fired for stating official policy.

Sat, 11/21/2015 - 8:37pm Permalink
Mark Mitcham (not verified)

In reply to by Tony Aroma (not verified)

Nothing about his job justifies lying about know facts.  Either he is unaware of the basic facts about marijuana (which makes him unqualified for his job), or he is lying about it (which makes him unqualified for his job), or most likely, he is a victim of his own beliefs, that is he truly believes what he is saying, he's just flat fucking wrong.  This is a very common phenomenon, I'll bet you've seen it in other people yourself.  But clearly, he's the wrong person for the job

Sun, 11/22/2015 - 7:24am Permalink
Tony Aroma (not verified)

In reply to by Mark Mitcham (not verified)

Actually, everything about his job requires him to lie.  It's in the job description.  But nobody ever said he was stating "facts" or even opinion.  The official position of the US government is that there is no such thing as medical marijuana.  This guy's just paraphrasing.

Sun, 11/22/2015 - 6:55pm Permalink
Mark Mitcham (not verified)

In reply to by Tony Aroma (not verified)

I see your point. But, respectfully, I disagree that he is just parroting the official position of the government.  He didn't say, "The position of my employer, the government, is that the Earth is flat."  He said, "The Earth is flat, and anyone who thinks differently is full of shit."  (Now I'm paraphrasing, of course, as you suggested he was.)  He doesn't get to lie to American Citizens, that's never a legitimate responsibility of Public Servants.  The DEA itself is illegitimate, and his statements are unacceptable.  And even if it is true that he is getting paid to lie, so what?  Does that make it acceptable?  I think not.  Anyway, let's smoke one!  Puff puff pass....

Sun, 11/22/2015 - 8:08pm Permalink
Mark Mitcham (not verified)

In reply to by Tony Aroma (not verified)

In fact, we don't need anybody to fill that position!  Fire him, then dismantle the DEA!  We would be better off without either one of them!  His qualifications aren't the issue: we don't need him at all, or anybody else at that job!  We don't need the job done at all!

Sun, 11/22/2015 - 7:41am Permalink

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.