Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) despatched an in depth letter to Elon Musk, chair of the newly established Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) with quite a few solutions for slashing federal spending.
Warren outlined proposals she stated may save the federal authorities upwards of $2 trillion over the following decade. Amongst her suggestions was scaling again federal enforcement towards marijuana customers and companies, which she referred to as an instance of “wasteful spending.”
“The USA may save lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} yearly by reducing pointless federal enforcement actions and detention,” Warren wrote within the Thursday letter to the billionaire Tesla TSLA CEO.
Warren criticized federal companies just like the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Customs and Border Safety (CBP) for persevering with to focus on authorized marijuana companies and seize hashish vegetation. “These arrests and seizures unnecessarily drain federal assets,” Warren stated.
When the DEA celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2023, it had spent over $1 trillion partly to implement Richard Nixon’s 1970 Managed Substances Act, the cornerstone of his Conflict on Medication.
Warren advisable to Musk that each the Departments of Justice and Homeland Safety may additionally preserve assets by deprioritizing arrests and different actions concentrating on marijuana possession in jurisdictions the place it is authorized beneath state regulation.
“For instance, virtually half of states have legalized leisure marijuana, but federal arrests for marijuana possession account for roughly 1 / 4 of all drug possession arrests, despite the fact that federal sentences for marijuana possession are uncommon,” Warren wrote, referring to FBI knowledge made public in September 2024.
The senator pointed to stories exhibiting the DEA eradicated over 5.7 million marijuana vegetation in 2022 and criticized the company for failing to launch up to date knowledge on marijuana-related arrests and seizures in 2024. She additionally highlighted a lawsuit by licensed New Mexico hashish companies accusing CBP brokers of unconstitutional seizures and detentions.
Final week, Warren expressed “severe issues” about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s potential to guide the Division of Well being and Human Providers. She requested for extra data on Kennedy’s stance concerning marijuana legalization and different points together with what she referred to as his “harmful views on vaccine security and public well being, together with your baseless opposition to vaccines.”
On Wednesday, Kennedy will seem earlier than the Senate Finance Committee for the primary of two affirmation hearings
In the meantime, the DEA’s management has drawn scrutiny, with appearing administrator Derek Maltz linking hashish to points like faculty shootings, an unfounded and most agree ludicrous stance.
In associated information, on Saturday the Senate confirmed the nomination of former South Dakota governor Kristi Noem to guide the Dept. of Homeland Safety.
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