On December 22, 2010, acting DEA administrator Michele Leonhart was nominated by the Senate to fill the top position permanently. Leonhart has been the acting director since November 2007, when Karen Tandy stepped down.
Leonhart’s appointment has been on hold due to concerns by Sen. Herb Kohl that nursing home residents don’t have adequate access to medications due to the DEA’s stepped-up efforts to combat prescription drug abuse. Kohl is supposedly pacified by the Obama Administration which has agreed to work with the Senator on future legislation.
Ultimately, medical cannabis patients must consider what her appointment means for us. During Leonhart’s acting term, she oversaw the landlord threat letters, a rash of raids and prosecutions – in California. Reports indicate that hearings around Leonhart’s nomination never touched on medical marijuana or the states that allow it. 30 Senators failed to consider the patients in their 15 medical cannabis states.
PAN will continue work with the Department of Justice, House Judiciary Committee and members of the Senate this next year to make sure patients’ concerns have a voice in Washington.
copyright © 2010 Degé Coutee
Michele Leonhart In The News:
http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/12/23/senate-confirms-dea-administrator/
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-dea-administrator,0,1506659.story
http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/dea-bad-girl-michele-leonhart/
http://cannabisnews.com/news/4/thread4341.shtml
On December 15, 2010, Los Angeles Councilmembers Bernard Parks, Jan Perry and Greig Smith referred a motion to repeal LA’s dispensary ordinance to the Planning and Land Use Management Committee and requested that the City Attorney draft language to ban collectives in the City. (Link to motion: http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2008/08-0923-s14_mot_12-15-2010a.pdf )
Councilmembers Ed Reyes, José Huizar and Paul Krekorian sit on the PLUM Committee and will vote on whether to move the motion forward. Council will return to its regular meeting schedule the first week of January 2011.
The agony of defeat is driving the movers of this motion. Parks, Perry and Smith have actively worked to unravel any progress on a workable ordinance for five years. The recent court decision by Judge Anthony J. Mohr to issue an injunction against the City of Los Angeles, ruling that provisions in the current ordinance violate equal protection, due process and patient privacy, has put egg on the faces of those adversaries. (Link to story: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-1211-pot-injunction-m,0,1172776.story ) These officials have treated patients like ignorant, second-class citizens with no rights. Patient Advocates knew it would take a judge to reveal the error of their ways.
As a result Parks, Perry and Smith are spiteful and vengeful. Instead of acting in accordance with their constituents, they would rather tie up City resources in lengthy, expensive lawsuits that the City will continue to lose. Patients and their collectives are prepared to fight this for as long as it takes. Banning collectives already authorized to remain open during the registration process or those that have won their injunction is only going to cause the City further legal grief. But Parks, Perry and Smith are too arrogant to consider the legal ramifications of their actions. They have taken a page out the Carmen Trutanich Bully Handbook.
Patients are encouraged to contact LA City Councilmembers about their concerns. PLUM Committee members will hear the matter first. Parks, Huizar and Krekorian are up for re-election in March along with Tom LaBonge, Tony Cardenas and Herb Wesson. LaBonge and Wesson have also been hostile toward patients. Councilmembers Janice Hahn, Paul Koretz and Bill Rosendahl have tried to be the most help to us and most likely will adamantly speak out against this motion. Councilmembers Ed Reyes and Dennis Zine were heavily involved with drafting early motions, a draft ordinance and a working group. Both officials had best intentions but had their hands bitten by the City Attorney’s office and has left them bitter regarding our issue.
Contact PAN if you have any questions about contacting your elected officials.
copyright © 2010 Degé Coutee
councilmember.reyes@lacity.org
councilmember.krekorian@lacity.org
councilmember.zine@lacity.org
councilmember.labonge@lacity.org
paul.koretz@lacity.org
councilmember.cardenas@lacity.org
councilmember.alarcon@lacity.org
Councilmember.Parks@lacity.org
Jan.Perry@lacity.org
councilmember.wesson@lacity.org
councilman.rosendahl@lacity.org
greig.smith@lacity.org
councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org
councilmember.huizar@lacity.org
janice.hahn@lacity.org
