Former DEA Chiefs Call on Government to Challenge State Marijuana Laws

Eight former heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) called on the federal government Tuesday to challenge laws in Colorado and Washington state that legalize the recreational use of marijuana, The Wall Street Journal reports. On the same day, a United Nations agency said the state laws violate international narcotics conventions.

“We are urging Attorney General Holder, as he did in the case of the Arizona immigration law, to file a lawsuit challenging the Colorado and Washington laws without delay,” one of former DEA Administrators, Judge Robert Bonner, said in a statement.

In its annual report, the United Nations’ International Narcotics Control Board, which monitors the implementation of international drug-control conventions, said it “stresses the importance of universal implementation of the international drug control treaties by all States parties and urges the Government of the United States to take necessary measures to ensure full compliance with the international drug control treaties in its entire territory.”

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder last week said he is in the final stages of reviewing the state laws, the article notes.