Scandal Causes DEA Head To Resign

Scandal Causes DEA Head To Resign

Washington, DC: Obama administration officials confirmed last week that Drug Enforcement Administration head Michele Leonhart is stepping aside.

Members of the US House Oversight Committee recently gave Leonhart a vote of "no confidence" after an Office of the Inspector General report revealed that DEA officials had participated in sex parties arranged by Colombian drug cartels and had also received weapons and cash from cartel members. None of the agents involved in the incidents were fired by director Leonhart.

Michele Leonhart began serving as the agency’s acting director in November 2007 before being confirmed as DEA administrator in 2010. She will leave the agency in mid-May.

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500, or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org.