DEA Chief Resigns, NJ Trooper Head Rumored To Be Front Runner

The acting chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Chuck Rosenberg is stepping down according to reports from The Associated Press. Rosenberg is said to have notified employees on Tuesday in an email that he was leaving and thanked them for their hard work.

Rosenberg has been in the position temporarily since 2015 and garnered attention when he distanced himself from President Trump after comments that the police shouldn’t be nice to suspects when putting them in squad cars. At that time he told employees that he did not condone police misconduct. The AP also said that New Jersey State Police Col. Rick Fuentes is a front-runner for the role.

Just last week, he named the President an honorary state trooper bestowing badge number 45 on him. “The New Jersey State Police ‘Roll Call’ roster will forever reflect badge number 45 being honorably issued to President Donald J. Trump,” Fuentes wrote in an order that authorized the ceremonial designation. Fuentes is known for taking a stance against racial profiling. He also holds masters and doctoral degrees in criminal justice from the City University of New York.

Rosenberg is known for being a close associate of fired FBI Director James Comey. According to the New York Times, Rosenberg was asked whether he wanted to be a permanent administrator for the DEA and he said he did not. It was also said that he believed the President had little respect for the law.

This follows a report earlier this week from the FBI that stated that 653,249 arrests were made for marijuana in 2016. “Arresting and citing over half a million people a year for a substance that is objectively safer than alcohol is a travesty,” said Morgan Fox, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project. “Despite a steady shift in public opinion away from marijuana prohibition and the growing number of states that are regulating marijuana like alcohol, marijuana consumers continue to be treated like criminals throughout the country. This is a shameful waste of resources and can create lifelong consequences for the people arrested.”

Tom Angell of Marijuana Majority crunched the numbers and found that marijuana drug arrests were rising – up 5.6% from 2015. He said that it is an average of one drug arrest for every 20 seconds. While industry insiders have operated with an attitude of business as usual, it may be that some prefer the devil you know.