Posts Tagged ‘Barack Obama’

The rest of the story: Is U.S. drug policy or gun policy responsible for Mexican violence?

Apr 28th, 11 / 4 Comments

Several major media outlets reported Friday that the Mexican government had retained a U.S. law firm to explore a possible civil suit against U.S. gun manufacturers. Phoenix’s 12 News interviewed me about the potential lawsuit and the flow of weapons and ammunition south from Arizona to Mexico. (Video above.)

The reporter wanted to know: Are U.S. guns and ammunition ending up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels? How do you know? Who bears the blame?

The only thing she used from me was a short soundbite: I told her there was no way to definitively say what percentage of cartel firepower comes from the U.S. but there is no doubt that there are thousands of guns from the U.S. being used against soldiers and innocents in Mexico.

I went on to give a far more nuanced explanation about the role of U.S. guns in Mexican violence — and where the real blame lies for the deaths in Mexico.

First, are U.S. guns and ammunition being used by Mexican cartels? Yes. I’m not sure why this is up for debate. Every few days I see a press release like this one on Friday, which announces the conviction of a Tucson man for attempting to export 9,000 rounds of ammunition to Mexico. The ATF says that thousands of guns found in Mexico have been definitively traced by their serial numbers back to U.S. gun shops. I’ve personally seen hundreds of guns and boxes upon boxes of ammunition that were sold in the U.S. and recovered by federal officials in Mexico or intercepted on their way there. (Look, I know there is the whole Project Gunrunner controversy but that appears to be a result of investigative overzealousness — not proof that cartels get their weapons from China.)

Do cartels get all their firepower from the U.S.? Of course not. Most? Who knows (I don’t). But the bottom line is that there are U.S. guns and ammunition ending up in the hands of bad guys in Mexico. And those weapons have been turned against Mexican law enforcement and could be turned against Americans, too.

Some gun rights advocates will argue vociferously that cartels don’t get their weapons from the U.S. because they fear the backlash will result in restrictions on the second amendment right to bear arms. The contention that some make that the Obama administration is lying about guns found in Mexico or at border check points so that he can “take away our guns” is ludicrous. Obama has been president for more than two years, including time with a Democratic Congress. And he hasn’t done a darn thing to restrict gun sales. He has backed away from his support for a renewed assault weapons ban (which was at one point a bi-partisan idea supported by George W. Bush). Obama even blocked an emergency rule change from the ATF a few months ago that would have applied the same reporting requirements when someone buys multiple assault weapons (in border states only) that are now in place for handguns. He hasn’t taken any action on the so-called “gun show loophole” either.

Just because you don’t like the possible policy solutions, doesn’t change the underlying facts: U.S. guns are ending up in Mexico.

So who’s to blame? I’m eager to see what kind of case the Mexican government puts together against gun manufacturers. Do gun manufacturers know some of their weapons end up in Mexico? Sure they do. [Did you know that Colt makes a whole series of .38 Supers that appear designed for the Mexican gang market with names like "El Presidente" and "El Patron"? You can even find some named after Malverde, the "patron saint" of drug traffickers. Those guns are status weapons among cartel brass, federal officials tell me.] Still, while semi-automatic assault weapons and .50 BMG sniper rifles popular with the cartels increase the magnitude of the bloodshed in Mexico, they are certainly not the cause of it.

How about gun distributors? Do they know some of their guns will end up in Mexico? Sure, some do. There are always bad actors, especially when there is a lot of money involved. But the U.S. government does not require gun distributors to do much: they run a brief background check and keep a file on who buys guns. They are asked to report anyone who seems suspicious, but the gun dealers I have talked to say that this can be hard for employees to discern: Do you report anyone who buys a lot of guns? Anyone who speaks Spanish? It is legal in Arizona (and any state without robust state gun laws) to buy as many semi-automatic assault weapons and as much ammunition as you like without a waiting period or any reporting to law enforcement or government officials whatsoever.

The gun industry does deserve some blame for blocking common sense measures that could curb some gun trafficking (such as requirements on gun shops to report bulk purchases of semi-automatic weapons, etc.). For some reason, gun advocates today insist that the second amendment is absolute in a way that even the first amendment isn’t. The first amendment gives Americans the right to peaceably assemble. Yet, no one goes crazy when you have to get a permit for a demonstration or a parade. The first amendment grants freedom of the press, yet the press doesn’t have access to cover everything public officials do. The first amendment guarantees the freedom of speech, but slander and libel laws are there to curb the parameters of what we can say.

But in today’s political discourse the gun lobby has such a stranglehold over the process that even common sense measures that in the past would have been supported by both parties are now portrayed as liberal extremism. The gun lobby has won unprecedented protection from public scrutiny (that even curbs the first amendment rights of freedom of speech and of the press!). The so-called Tiahrt Amendments, for example, require the federal government to destroy all records of gun purchases within 24 hours and blocks the agency from sharing specific trace data on guns found at crime scenes (in the U.S. or Mexico) with the public or lawmakers. This is intended to shield the industry from possible lawsuits, but it ends up making it difficult for law enforcement to fight crime and gun trafficking. (Read the ‘Mayors Against Illegal Guns’ summary of the Tiahrt Amendments here.)

So does that mean that U.S. gun manufacturers are to blame for the nearly 40,000 deaths in Mexico in just over four years?

Look, guns are a means for people to commit violent acts. And, yes, easy access to sniper rifles that can tear holes through concrete and cars and semi-automatic assault weapons (which the ATF says can easily be converted to automatic in Mexico) helps the cartels fight the Mexican military. But while guns may be the instruments of battle, they are certainly not the cause of the war.

U.S. drug policy — not U.S. gun policy — is responsible for deaths in Mexico.

People are dying in Mexico because U.S. drug policies have not worked, and our international strategy to fight drugs has pushed drug distribution into Mexico. For more than 40 years, we have been fighting a losing war on drugs. We have not succeeded in curbing drug use, but we have filled our jails and prisons with drug users. We have not won the war against production and distribution, but we have moved the theater of battle. By pushing drug distribution into Mexico, we brought the battle to our border, into a country that was already plagued with poverty and corruption. The fact that the drug cartels are exploiting our gun freedom and using American guns against our national interests in the drug war is another consequence of failed U.S. drug policy.

The inconsistencies and loopholes in U.S. gun laws that have enabled cartels to arm themselves with American weapons and increase the level of violence are important to debate and deal with.  (Read more about my take on gun laws here.) But we should not be fooled into thinking that if we completely stopped the flow of U.S. weapons south we will end the bloodshed in Mexico entirely. The cartels will find weapons elsewhere as long as they have an endless supply of money from black market sales of drugs. If the last four decades of the drug war should have taught us anything it is this: if we defeat the cartels in Mexico new narcos will pop up somewhere else to replace them.  And if we seal the U.S.-Mexico border, the supply of drugs will find another way in — through Canada, via the skies or the seas or produced here at home.

I told the TV reporter: I know you want to be talking about gun policy, but if you are asking me who is to blame for the deaths in Mexico we should be talking about U.S. drug policy. Not surprisingly, that part didn’t make the story.

Read More:

Crawford On Guns: Gun Laws and Trafficking to Cartels

Inside The Phoenix Gunshow: No Hassle to Buy Assault Rifles

Get Your Guns: Inside the Phoenix gun show

The Iron River: As concerns mount over the potential for Mexican drug cartel violence to spill over the border, a steady flow of firearms south from Phoenix is helping give the cartels their lethal firepower

More…

–AJC

  • Share/Bookmark
Drug Policy, Drug War History, Guns, Mexican drug cartels, Prisons, U.S.-Mexico border

This Week in Drugs (Feb. 25, 2011)

Feb 25th, 11 / 1 Comment

Federal authorities have launched a nationwide crackdown on drug cartels following last week’s murder of a U.S. agent in Mexico. Arizona’s acting Special Agent in Charge, Doug Coleman, said several hundred DEA agents teamed up with hundreds more federal and local officers, resulting in 31 arrests. “The overall message here is that we as U.S. law enforcement are going to do something when we see that a cartel in Mexico is going to target U.S. agents,” Coleman told The Arizona Republic. By Thursday morning, law enforcement nationwide had seized more than $4.5 million in cash and nearly 20 guns, arrested more than 100 people and confiscated about 23 pounds of methamphetamine, 107 kilograms of cocaine, 5 pounds of heroin and 300 pounds of marijuana. Read more about the crackdown from The Washington Post here.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon will meet with President Obama next week to address the drug war’s increasing violence, especially the murder of a U.S. agent near Mexico City, Business Insider reports. Mexican defense officials told The Wall Street Journal the attack was a mistake in identity, however some believe the agents may have been targeted by the cartel. Either way, U.S. lawmakers are considering ways of arming U.S. agents in Mexico, something that has not been allowed since a 1990 agreement. Read more from Fox News here.

The Pinal County (AZ) Sheriff’s Office reported Wednesday morning the arrest of 102 suspects and the seizure of 3,200 pounds of marijuana after a four-day operation in the Vekol Valley and Silver Bell Mountain areas, The Arizona Republic reports. The drug and human trafficking-focused operation also resulted in the recovery of seven stolen vehicles and 12 firearms.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a bill Tuesday outlawing the sale of synthetic marijuana, commonly known as ‘Spice,’ the Phoenix Business Journal reports. The federal and state government are moving to make Spice and its sister compounds, once legally sold at smoke shops, illegal.

Months after Butte County, Calif., law enforcement coordinated raids on seven marijuana dispensaries, the District Attorney’s Office has yet to file criminal charges or return confiscated money to the dispensary owners, Toke of the Town reports. More than 100 law enforcement officers on served search warrants June 30 on seven marijuana dispensaries and 11 residences.

A 10,000-square-foot hydroponics store enthusiastically marketing itself as the “Wal-Mart of weed” will open tomorrow in Sacramento, The Sacramento Bee reports. The first national franchise for a company that bills itself as a supply and training destination for legal pot growers, weGrow attracted national attention for its unfettered embrace of pot culture.

Washington’s largest newspaper, The Seattle Times, published an editorial last Friday calling for the legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana in the state of Washington. According to Seattle’s alternative news site The Stranger, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske contacted the newspaper to speak personally with the editorial board after the editorial appeared. Seattle Times editorial writer Bruce Ramsey told The Stranger that the White House called “right after our editorial ran, so I drew the obvious conclusion… he didn’t like our editorial.” The meeting, scheduled for next Friday, hasn’t stopped The Seattle Times from publishing pro-pot editorials like one urging House Speaker Frank Chopp to allow a hearing on House Bill 1550, state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson’s bill to legalize marijuana and sell it through the Washington state liquor stores.

A man in Fitchburg, Mass., became the 10th to die in US drug enforcement operations this year after being shot by a state trooper on Tuesday, StoptheDrugWar.com reports. According to the police, 21-year-old Roger Padilla refused to pull over, leading the trooper on a brief pursuit to a cul-de-sac. The trooper stepped out of his black, unmarked SUV and repeatedly commanded Padilla to exit. According to police, Padilla began driving his car toward the trooper at which point he was fired upon and killed.

New Colombian criminal bands are springing up to take over cocaine production and fill a void created by the U.S.-backed drug war, Reuters reports. Linked to former paramilitary groups, the gangs have slaughtered human rights activists, public officials and civilians, the United Nations said on Thursday.

Finally, the wealthy Mexican city of Monterrey has become a ‘city of massacres’ as drug war violence erupts in the streets. Watch the PBS NewsHour video here:

-David Robles

  • Share/Bookmark
Drug Policy, Drug War History, Guns, Mexican drug cartels, This Week In Drugs, U.S.-Mexico border

This Week in Drugs (Jan. 28, 2011)

Jan 28th, 11 / 2 Comments

Amid the horrific violence seen in Mexico over the course of President Felipe Calderon’s drug war, the nation’s capital had become a safe refuge for Mexicans fleeing drug war violence in the country’s extremities. But according to the LA Times, the Mexican military has increased its presence in Mexico City recently, raiding a hotel and a house in middle-class districts and arresting one suspected member of the Zetas cartel.

The Mexican government has vowed not to back down in the fight against La Familia drug cartel despite the criminal organization claiming to have dissolved itself, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. Mexican officials remain skeptical on the mysterious banners making the claim, believing it could be a plot to divert focus from the cartel. Mexico’s security spokesman, Alejandro Poire, said “there would be no truce” with La Familia, however he did not comment on the banners in the state of Michoacan.

A group of middle-class Mexican women on pink motorcycles has begun handing out food and medicine to the poor in Ciudad Juarez, Reuters reported Monday. The motorcycle club that calls itself “Las Guerreras” (The Female Warriors) rides out on their hogs every Sunday to dangerous neighborhoods, handing out cash, medicines, food, clothing and even birthday cakes, all paid for out of their own pockets.

During her visit to Mexico this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commended Calderon’s fight in the drug war, calling it “courageous” and adding that there is “no alternative,” LA Times reported Tuesday.

Avelardo Valdez of The Houston Chronicle argues otherwise: “Failure to curb drug war exposes Mexico’s weakness.”

Surveillance video from last Friday at the U.S./Mexico border near Naco, Ariz., shows drug smugglers employing a catapult to launch small bales of marijuana across the border, ABC News reported. National Guard troops monitoring the surveillance cameras contacted Mexican authorities who arrived to find approximately 45 pounds of marijuana, the catapult and the SUV belonging to the smugglers who fled the scene before police arrived.

Federal officials said Tuesday they have busted a network of gun buyers and smugglers responsible for arming Mexican drug cartels, arresting 17 people named in a 53-count indictment, The Wall Street Journal reports. Authorities in Phoenix have busted gun-smuggling rings in the past—including last year’s seizure of 1,300 weapons that were heading south from Arizona and New Mexico. Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona called the smuggling and straw purchasing of weapons “a huge problem” for the state. “The drug cartels go shopping for their war weapons in Arizona,” Burke said. “One of Arizona’s top exports is weapons for drug cartels.”

During Thursday’s YouTube Q-and-A session, President Obama found out that a burning question on the mind of Americans is his stance on legalizing marijuana. Although he said he is not in favor of legalizing pot, he thinks that drug use should be looked at more as a public health problem than a legal issue.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne believes medical marijuana in the is subject to the state sales tax. One proposal would tax marijuana at a stunning 300 percent. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Steve Farley, said the tax could reduce the amount that people who use medical marijuana: “We all know that not all this will necessarily go to sick people,” he told the Arizona Republic. Andrew Myers, executive director of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association said the tax would push medical marijuana out of reach of those who need it. 

So you think you know all the various conditions that people say can be treated with marijuana? Try this fun pot quiz.

–DR

  • Share/Bookmark
Drug Policy, Guns, Mexican drug cartels, This Week In Drugs, U.S.-Mexico border

This Week in Drugs (Dec. 17, 2010)

Dec 17th, 10 / 8 Comments

Arizona’s state health agency released draft rules today on medical marijuana, legalized in November by voters’ approval of Proposition 203. (Read the draft rules here.) Among other things, the rules require that patients have an existing relationship with a physician or that they see the same doctor for their marijuana recommendation as they do to treat their condition — which would help to scale down the number of doctors whose practices center around marijuana. The rules also clarify what we’ve been pointing out to critics for a while: the only kind of chronic pain that counts in Arizona is pain associated with a debilitating disease or illness. The Arizona Republic does a good job of explaining the draft rules here. The public now has three weeks to comment on the proposed regulations.

The Los Angeles Times‘ editorial board delivered a well-earned slap down to Obama’s drug czar this week for blaming increased marijuana use by teens on medical marijuana and California’s failed Proposition 19 to legalize recreational pot. The newspaper points to a spring study that shows no increase in marijuana use by teens in states where medical marijuana is legal. And, indeed, the proof is undeniable that prohibition hasn’t stopped marijuana use: “There’s little evidence that continued criminalization has discouraged teen drug use, but better education might,” the newspaper writes.

The Obama administration is taking a logical (albeit probably overdue) step to stem the flow of assault weapons to Mexico by proposing a temporary requirement that gun dealers near the border report multiple sales of assault weapons. The feds already track multiple handgun sales, but not of semi-automatic weapons like AR-15s and AK-47s used by cartels for battles with the Mexican army. The National Rifle Association has already called out the move as an assault on the second amendment, according to The Washington Post. Read my take on our inconsistent and illogical gun laws and the “iron river” of guns flowing to Mexico here.

U.S. diplomatic cables published to WikiLeaks show Cuban frustration with Jamaica’s lack of response to drug smuggling to the United States, CNN reports. According to the cables, Cuban officials “collectively and continually … express frustration over the GOJ’s [Jamaica's] consistent ignoring of Cuban attempts to increase the flow” of drug-related information between the two countries.

Mexican officials announced this week that more than 30,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon launched his escalated drug war in 2006. About 12,500 people were killed from January-November 2010, compared with 9,600 in all of 2009, the Associated Press reports. The BBC reports Ciudad Juarez’ death toll has reached 3,000 for the year; 10 times the figures for 2007. In the past three years, 7,386 people had been killed in Ciudad Juarez. CNN looks at the new numbers in light of a new report from the Stratfor global intelligence company that shows the violent cost of the government’s efforts to take down cartel leaders. While dangerous individuals are eliminated, the efforts also upset the balance of power and lead to more bloodshed: “This imbalance has increased the volatility of the country’s security environment by creating a sort of vicious feeding frenzy among the various organizations as they seek to preserve their own turf or seize territory from rival organizations,” the report says.

The populace response to the death of a Mexican drug lord this weeks shows the complexity of the relationship between some cartels and citizens. Slain cartel leader Nazario Moreno Gonzalez (a.k.a. “The Craziest”) of La Familia Michoacana was mourned as a religious leader after being gunned down by authorities. His cult-like cartel bills itself as the protector of the Michoacan state. A peace march organized by the local government turned into a rally in support of Gonzalez, the Associated Press reports. Read the CNN profile of Gonzalez here.

Meanwhile, the Mexican government’s corruption case against 35 local officials for working with La Familia has fallen apart and all but one of the suspects has been released, The Los Angeles Times reports.

For once, the United States is exporting something marijuana-related to Mexico: growing techniques. Reuters reports on new more sophisticated production practices pioneered on marijuana in the U.S. that are now being used to produce higher-grade marijuana in Mexico. As part of the article, Reuters emphasizes that U.S.-sold marijuana provides the bulk of the cash used by cartels to finance their violent battle against the Mexican government.

An Afghan drug lord now facing narco-terrorism charges was a U.S. informant, The New York Times reports. The article illustrates the conflict the U.S. faces in fighting terrorism and the global drug war at the same time.

A video of pop-star Miley Cyrus smoking the natural herb, salvia, has been swirling around the internet. Salvia divinorum, also known as Diviner’s or Seer’s Sage, is a psychoactive plant smoked for its dissociative effects and hallucinatory experiences. Legal in Cyrus’ home state of California, it has been banned in states like Oklahoma, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Illinois, Virginia, North Dakota, and Delaware. See the TMZ video here.

The Open Society Institute* posted an interesting blog this week on the vilification of pregnant women who use drugs. The international non-profit points to governmental scare tactics in places like Russia that are not based in science and only serve to further marginalize women and prevent them from seeking treatment.

The Drug Policy Alliance and other criminal justice reform groups are asking supporters to fast on Dec. 22 and sign a petition to urge President Obama to create an “effective process” to review applications for commutations and grant sentence reductions to federal prisoners serving overly harsh time for drug violations and other crimes. Read and/or sign the petition here. Recently, Obama granted his first pardons, but did not take action, as some had hoped he would, to reduce sentences of people convicted before changes this year to alleviate some of the disparity between punishments for powder verse crack cocaine.

–AJC

*Full disclosure: Amanda J. Crawford is a 2010 Soros Justice Fellow with the Open Society Institute, which helps to support her work on CrawfordOnDrugs.com

  • Share/Bookmark
Drug Policy, Guns, Mexican drug cartels, This Week In Drugs, U.S.-Mexico border

This Week In Drugs (Dec. 3, 2010)

Dec 4th, 10 / 0 Comments

According to classified diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, the U.S. has lost confidence in the Mexican army’s competence and ability to win the drug war, the UK’s Guardian.co reported. This comes in stark contrast to the insistence by Mexican President Felipe Calderón and his administration that the state is succeeding in winning the drug war that has been responsible for more than 28,000 deaths in four years. The documents show a growing panic in the Mexican government and the fear that it could “lose” entire regions to drug trafficking organizations.

USA Today is reporting on the growing number of women working for criminal gangs in Mexico, participating in everything from extortion and kidnapping to murder.

Meanwhile, a report by the National Drug Intelligence Center estimates that criminals smuggle between $18 billion and $39 billion each year across the Southwest border into Mexico. The El Paso Times reports that U.S. agents have seized about $41 million in cash leaving the United States at border crossings but without full-time inspections of outbound traffic, they have seized only a fraction of the cash smuggled south.

Methamphetamine production continues to be a problem — both in Mexico and in the U.S. Last week, The Washington Post reported that Mexico is now the number one source of meth in the United States. Then, this week The Wall Street Journal countered with this story on the rise of meth labs in rural areas of the U.S. — in part due to interdiction efforts in Mexico.

With drug war violence continuing to rage in Mexico, Fox News is asking why the Obama administration is ignoring the drug war. See Greta Van Susteren’s report here.

Others are criticizing President Obama for not acting more boldly when he issued his first presidential pardons this week. Politico reports that four of the nine pardons were for people convicted of cocaine-related offenses. However Obama did not act to reduce lengthy sentences related to the controversial crack vs. powder sentencing disparity. And Politico notes that, ironically, some of the people pardoned served relatively minor sentences compared to the lengthy sentences they would receive under current mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines for drug crimes.

Police and military in Rio de Janeiro launched a massive sweep of the Alemao favela complex in northern Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday morning in search of drug gang leaders and their illegal products. The complex, a labyrinth of slums that is home to numerous drug gangs, was stormed by 2,600 police and soldiers with armored vehicles. At least 35 people have died, 174 arrested and 123 detained since surge began last Sunday. The effort comes as the city and others prepare for Brazil to host the 2014 World Cup soccer matches and the 2016 Olympic Games.

Also in Brazil, a surprising discovery when authorities busted a Brazilian drug lord: he turned out to be a Justin Bieber fan. Perez Hilton is reporting that authorities discovered an oversized mural of the youthful pop star and tween heart throb when they busted a man considered one of the areas top drug traffickers.

In Pinal County, Ariz., more than two dozen people have been detained in recent weeks and thousands of pounds of marijuana have been seized in the Vekol Valley, the Arizona Reublic reports. On November 17, the Deputies arrested a 17-year-old boy and seized 12 bundles of marijuana. The next day, the drivers of three trucks believed to be headed to pick up illegal immigrants on I-8 were arrested. Later the same day, authorities observed seven people carrying large burlap bundles of marijuana on their backs near I-8. For a complete list of arrests and seizures in the past week, see the story here.

Soon, a new drug will be regulated by the DEA: the herbal incense known as Spice, which is often described as synthetic marijuana, will soon be illegal. The agency announced that this month they would finalize rules to ban the chemicals used to make the substance, which has been legally sold in smoke shops in Arizona and most other states but which has been the subject of increasing scrutiny and outlawed in 15 states. The federal ban is temporary and begins on Christmas Eve. Read more here.

–AJC & DR

  • Share/Bookmark
Drug Policy, Drug War History, Mexican drug cartels, This Week In Drugs, U.S.-Mexico border

Financial scandal – not Bush administration ways – could sink DEA Nominee Leonhart

Aug 26th, 10 / 36 Comments

Michele Leonhart. (Official Department of Justice photo)

For months, drug reform advocates have been decrying President Obama’s nomination of Bush-holdover Michele Leonhart to head the Drug Enforcement Agency. She fights the drug war Bush style, they say. She has been busting state-legalized medical marijuana outfits in direct violation of the president and Attorney General Eric Holder’s orders, they point out.

But now I hear Leonhart’s nomination might be scuttled by a scandal with which it is not clear she is even directly connected. A source within the Department of Justice tells CrawfordOnDrugs that the buzz is Leonhart is a “dead woman walking” and her confirmation is unlikely to move forward after a financial scandal that cost dozens of DEA agents and other current and former federal employees their life savings.

Here’s how it went down: In late June, the SEC filed a complaint against Jacksonville, Fla., investment adviser Wayne McLeod, saying he ran a Ponzi scheme that took at least $34 million from 260 investors, mostly federal employees and retirees nationwide.  McLeod, who took his own life as the scandal unfolded, had been paid to give retirement seminars for the DEA, FBI, ICE and other federal agencies. His ties to the DEA went back the furthest, more than a decade.

McLeod won the trust of federal agents and others by virtue of his seeming endorsement by the agencies that brought him in to talk to their employees. Tony Marotta, assistant special agent in charge of five DEA offices in Ohio, told CrawfordOnDrugs that he trusted McLeod with his savings because McLeod was the DEA’s retirement specialist. “That’s how we swallowed the hook,” Marotta says. Employees would attend McLeod’s retirement seminars and then seek him out for advice and investments afterward. “If he was being used by and he has a relationship with your employer for so many years and was the official retirement guy, you assumed vetting had taken place,” says Marotta, who invested “a lot” with McLeod. (“It’s all gone,” he says bitterly.)

The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville has been doing some great coverage of this scandal. Read the paper’s story about how McLeod defrauded federal employees to finance his lavish lifestyle here. (The paper has also been seeking leads on which high-ranking federal officials went along on McLeod’s annual Super Bowl trips or got other favors, but has yet to publish anything in that vein.)

I have not yet seen any indication myself that Leonhart was directly connected to McLeod. And Marotta says he has not heard that this scandal will impact her confirmation. Although he is angry about losing his money, he doesn’t blame Leonhart. (Marotta is a Leonhart supporter who talked negatively about liberals and those who wish to legalize marijuana when we talked.)  “I don’t think she is culpable nor do I think she should be held accountable,” he says.

Leonhart was nominated by Obama in February and the confirmation process has stalled since then. The Judiciary Committee was tied up for a while on the latest Supreme Court appointment and now the Senate is in recess. A Senate Judiciary Committee staffer confirmed only that the nomination has not been withdrawn.

Leonhart is a career DEA employee who was acting administrator under President George W. Bush. Her nomination has sparked outrage from groups who hoped the president would take action to change course in the failed drug war. (The Daily Caller had a piece recently saying Obama was sticking with his nominee despite the outcry from reform groups.) The Drug Policy Alliance has chronicled a long list of actions and scandals that they say should derail Leonhart’s nomination. Among them:

  • As head of the Los Angeles Field Division, Leonhart oversaw the DEA’s raids on medical marijuana patients and providers in California, even though they were complying with state law.
  • When she took over the agency, she blocked research to study potential medical benefits of marijuana, even after the DEA’s own administrative law judge said the agency should allow it.
  • She continued raids on state-legalized medical marijuana facilities even after Obama took office and the Justice Department pledged Obama would stand by his campaign promises. While campaigning, Obama said about medical marijuana: “What I’m not going to be doing is using justice department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue.”
  • A DOJ memo in October again reiterated to federal prosecutors that they should not focus federal resources on those complying with state laws. But there have been numerous DEA raids this year of state-approved medical marijuana facilities and patients under Leonhart’s watch anyway.
  • The DPA also blasts Leonhart for a coverup by DEA and ICE of an informant’s involvement in murders at a drug cartel house in Juarez known as the “House of Death”; payments of millions of dollars to an informant who committed crimes while working for the agency; and her use of a private jet instead of one of the agency’s many planes to travel to Colombia, which they call a waste of taxpayer money.

See the DPA’s detailed memo outlining its allegations against Leonhart (along with citations to press coverage and records) here.

Bill Piper, director of the DPA’s Office of National Affairs, says there are plenty of reasons Leonhart’s nomination should not go through. “While she was working her way up DEA’s chain of command, the rest of the country was moving past the war on drugs. We need a DEA Administrator who will stop focusing on arresting low level offenders and leave states alone,” he writes in an email.

He adds that Democrats have been reluctant to challenge Obama on the nomination. Perhaps the latest scandal will be the proverbial straw to break the camel’s back. “Democratic congressional staffers have said privately they have concern about Leonhart’s nomination because of her role in medical marijuana raids, but that it’s unlikely their boss would go against an Obama nominee. This latest scandal may make it easier.”

–AJC

  • Share/Bookmark
Drug Policy

Border security & budget cuts: two “drug” stories today show what we do right, wrong in Drug War

Jun 28th, 10 / 1 Comment

A delegation of Obama administration officials met with Arizona state leaders today to discuss border security, pledging hundreds of millions of dollars more in financial resources and increased manpower to fight crime at the Arizona-Mexico border (including 524 National Guard troops). The lengthy report from the White House on the tactics discussed in the meetings (link to PDF below) includes some smart efforts to fight cartel crime, such as a focus on southbound guns and money. But as I read the report, I found myself thinking about another unrelated “drug” story in Arizona, about thousands of mentally ill people who will lose access to treatment and medications because of state budget cuts.

At first blush, these two stories don’t seem connected at all. But for years, we have waged a war on drugs that has all but ignored the root causes of the problem. Year after year, politicians have increased minimum sentences for drug crimes and built more prisons while slashing drug treatment services and social programs that address poverty, mental illness and other societal problems linked to drug abuse. As I read this morning’s Arizona Republic story about the mental health program cuts, I thought about Paula, a woman with bipolar disorder I wrote about for  Phoenix Magazine this spring, who would lapse back into self-medicating by smoking crack whenever she didn’t have access to treatment or the right prescription meds. Arizona leaders who are so concerned about Mexicans bringing us drug cartel violence should consider what role they play in fighting drug use — not just punishing drug users — here at home. Treating and caring for those with mental illness is an important part of the social safety net that helps prevent crime, homelessness and drug abuse.

The Obama administration’s Southwest Border Strategy includes a tacit acknowledgment of the role the U.S. plays in the Mexican drug violence. The bloody battle with and between drug cartels that has left 23,000 Mexicans dead since 2006 is funded by money from U.S. drug sales and waged with U.S.-purchased guns. As I wrote yesterday, we can’t expect to get at the problem by targeting immigrants. But targeting southbound weapons and money is smart.

More information:

-Read the full White House report on today’s meetings here. Highlights: The White House has pledged $600 million to secure the Southwest border and enhance law enforcement efforts; additional ATF “Gunrunner Teams” and prosecutors; and 1,200 additional National Guard troops on the border (524 in Arizona).

-Read about efforts by the office of Arizona’s U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke to target firearms trafficking in a new border security fact sheet posted last week here.

-Watch the press conference by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today on the increase in National Guard troops here.

  • Share/Bookmark
Mexican drug cartels, Social programs, U.S.-Mexico border