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his year marks a return to supporting federal drug enforcement and supply- reduction efforts. Atorney General


Jeff Sessions, whom I’ve met with personally, has already rescinded the Cole Memorandum to U.S. atorneys, which basically said not to prosecute marijuana cases involving small amounts in states that have adopted medical marijuana or marijuana for recreational purposes. Atorney General Sessions told U.S. atorneys to disregard this guidance and that federal laws on marijuana still apply. Te President has recognized the Opioid


Epidemic and has requested an extra six billion dollars to address this very serious problem. Tis epidemic grew out of control during the Obama administration, but it started back in 1995 when OxyContin was developed by Purdue Pharmaceutical. Overdose deaths from opioids— prescription drugs and heroin—reached 63,600 in 2016, more than all the service men and women killed during the Vietnam War and four times the overdose deaths of 16,000 in 2005. Congress is represented by politicians


who want to get reelected and who need to raise money. Te movement for legalizing marijuana has been fueled by contributions from George Soros and others, and by the pot lobby itself, which has built a billion dollar business. It has also atracted the Mexican drug cartels, who are doing big business not only in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington State, but as far away as Alaska. So, what lies ahead? Te President has


just appointed a new drug czar as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP): James Carroll—an atorney, former White House staffer, former deputy legal counsel in Treasury, and a former member of the Department of Justice. Previously, both the Office of Drug Control Policy and President Obama were all about treatment. I think this Administration will be much more supportive of drug enforcement at every level. We have yet to see this issue strongly promoted by the Secretary of State, but that is needed, as is serious supply reduction of opium poppies and the heroin they produce in Mexico and Colombia. We do expect a major expansion of resources at the border with ICE and border patrol and


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Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents. I think the Atorney General would like to stop the legalization of marijuana movement—likewise the President. Will they have the political will and support to do it? Tis remains to be seen. Te DOT regulations on marijuana


should remain in place. In fact, the American Automobile Association has testified at the state level about the dangers of driving aſter smoking marijuana and increased traffic fatalities. As most of you know, the Department of Transportation has added four opioid prescription medications to the mandatory list for drug tests— hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone, and oxymorphone. Te opioid epidemic is causing 115 deaths per day, more than those killed by firearms or those killed in highway fatalities. Tere were 12 billion opioid medications distributed last year in the United States, 100 pills per household. Tis was the perfect storm—increased opium cultivation in Mexico (from 11,000 hectares of illegal cultivation in 2013 to 28,000 hectares in 2015), illegal shipments of fentanyl from China, excessive prescriptions of pain medications by doctors, “doctor shopping” by addicts, and the weakening of enforcement controls available to the DEA by Congress. Te public, the media, Congress, and the Administration are all concerned with the dramatic increase in overdose deaths caused by the opioid epidemic. Additional law enforcement resources will be deployed, more treatment resources will be available, and the original manufacturer of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, has cut its sales force in half and changed its labeling. Whether this will be sufficient to turn the tide remains to be seen. Te DEA will continue to sponsor


events where families can turn in unused prescription drugs. It has recently made available its Automated Reports and Consolidated Ordering System (ARCOS) database to Pharma manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies, and doctors to enable them to see what, if any, excess medications have been distributed or prescribed to aid in limiting “doctor shopping” and unreasonable orders of pain medications.


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