Politics
Out of context: Reply #10894
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Democratic Congressman calls on Eric Holder to rein in rogue DEA agents
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/20…
Rep. Jared Polis has called on Attorney General Eric Holder to look into whether the Drug Enforcement Administration acted inappropriately and in defiance of federal government policy by raiding and arresting a small medical marijuana grower in Colorado.
Polis, a freshman Democrat who represents the state, told HuffPost that he also met with Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske and pressed him on the issue.
"I was very impressed with him," said Polis. Now he's working on Holder.
In February, Holder said that the Justice Department would not arrest or prosecute people for drug law violations if they are following state medical marijuana laws. The department issued a memo to that effect in October.
The DEA raid and subsequent comments from top special agent Jeffrey Sweetin that the drug warriors would "arrest everybody" created a climate of "widespread panic" in Colorado, Polis wrote to Holder in a letter this week. He asked the AG to clarify in writing whether the department's policy was still in effect.
The man captured in the raid has been charged by the U.S. Attorney for intent to distribute drugs.
"It seems like there is a disconnect between the field and the White House policy," Polis told HuffPost. "You have rogue agents like the one in Colorado, like Jeff Sweetin, that are going around, that are making statements that are scaring people, and that are disrupting a doctor-patient relationship that is sanctioned by the people of Colorado."
- Reading this story you realize what a huge change there has been since Reagan's War on Drugs went into effectukit