Attempts to Thwart Growing Momentum and Support for Sensible Marijuana Laws and Life-Saving Overdose Prevention Strategies
Statement from Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance
The Trump Administration is ramping up the war on drugs by plotting to undermine marijuana legalization and threatening cities and states that are considering supervised consumption spaces as a strategy to reduce overdose deaths.
BuzzFeed reported yesterday that “the White House has secretly amassed a committee of federal agencies from across the government to combat public support for marijuana and cast state legalization measures in a negative light, while attempting to portray the drug as a national threat, according to interviews with agency staff and documents obtained by BuzzFeed News”.
On Monday, the Justice Department ignored a mountain of evidence and came out strongly against supervised consumption sites, despite their proven record of reducing overdose deaths and saving lives. In an op-ed in the New York Times, Rod J. Rosenstein, deputy attorney general of the United States, threatened states that are moving forward with this life saving strategy.
The Justice Department’s aggressive stance coincides with California becoming the first state legislature to pass supervised consumption site legislation. The legislation, passed Monday night, would create a three-year pilot program allowing San Francisco to implement and evaluate supervised drug consumption programs. The bill is off to Governor Jerry Brown and awaits his signature. Governor Jerry Brown has until September 30 to sign or veto the bill.
Statement from Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance
“The administration appears intent on distorting the evidence around marijuana legalization and supervised consumption sites to suit its agenda. Its effort to discourage supervised consumption sites risks condemning thousands more to die. Its apparent plot to undermine marijuana legalization, while hardly surprising, would thwart the will of voters in multiple states, break with commitments President Trump made to support legislation allowing states to make their own decisions on marijuana, and take the US back down the failed path of criminalization and all its related, devastating costs.”
