Marijuana seems to be on the up-and-up in the USA, as states across the country continue to loosen their restrictions on the plant’s medical and recreational use. But the federal government’s war on weed has not abated. According to a new report, local, state and federal authorities uprooted about 4.1 million marijuana plants in all 50 states in 2015, costing the feds a whopping $18 million, which is about the same spent in prior years.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s controversial “cannabis eradication program” provides funding to over a hundred state and local law enforcement agencies across the country to aggressively seek out, seize and destroy illegal marijuana plants. Much of the money is spent on expensive aerial operations, which involve helicopters scouring the countryside for pot farms.
The source of these funds is also controversial: a bulk of it comes from the Justice Department’s asset forfeiture fund, which allows authorities to seize money and property from people who have been suspected, but not convicted, of a crime.
Last year, a group of lawmakers led by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation to redirect marijuana eradication funds to better causes, like domestic violence prevention programs. Commenting on the recent report, Lieu told the Washington Post: “Marijuana needs to be removed from Schedule I classification, and DEA should stop this wasteful program.”
Yet the eradication programs continued last year, even in states that have legalized recreational pot, like Washington and Oregon. According to a DEA spokesman, nearly 36,000 marijuana plants were destroyed in Washington last year, costing taxpayers about $950,000 in total. However, two other states where marijuana is now legal, Alaska and Colorado, did refuse federal eradication funds, opting instead to conduct their own efforts to combat illegal marijuana grows.
The federal marijuana eradication program serves as a reminder that a dated “war on drugs” mentality prevails in the U.S. government, even as the populist attitude towards marijuana shifts. “It makes zero sense for the federal government to continue to spend taxpayer dollars on cannabis eradication at a time when states across the country are looking to legalize marijuana,” said Lieu. “I will continue to fight against DEA’s Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program in Congress and work to redirect these funds to worthwhile programs.”
