In a letter to Elon Musk, in his role as chairman of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called for an end to raids by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) on cannabis businesses.
“These arrests and seizures unnecessarily drain federal resources. DOGE should recommend that (Department of Justice) and (Department of Homeland Security) conserve resources by deprioritizing costly arrests and other enforcement actions targeting marijuana activity, at least where the activity is legal in the jurisdiction where it occurred.” — Warren, in the letter, 1/23/25
In the letter, Warren says the U.S. government could save “hundreds of millions of dollars each year by reducing wasteful spending on unnecessary federal enforcement actions and detention,” and notes that “almost half of states have legalized recreational marijuana, yet federal arrests for marijuana possession account for roughly a quarter of all drug possession arrests, even though federal sentences for marijuana possession are rare.”
Warren also calls for federal prison reforms in the letter, including “compassionate release for elderly and terminally ill individuals in federal prisons.”
“These individuals pose minimal risk to public safety; for example, 93 percent of incarcerated individuals over age 65 are classified as presenting a minimum or low risk of recidivism,” Warren writes, “and those eligible for compassionate release must be found to not be a danger to the safety of any person or the community.”
Warren also suggested that DOGE “recommend steps to phase out the costly practice of incarcerating people for technical violations of probation and parole,” pointing out that about 27% of admissions to state and federal prisons stem from technical violations of probation and parole.
“Reincarcerating individuals for these minor violations poses an unnecessary burden on taxpayers,” Warren said in the letter. “For example, a 2019 report found that states spent a whopping $2.8 billion to incarcerate individuals for technical violations of their terms of supervision.”
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