Congress

DEA and ONDCP functionaries got a grilling on medical marijuana issues at a House subcommittee hearing last week.

For the first time in more than a decade, the DEA came under congressional scrutiny last week for its interference in the practice of medicine. Pain patient and doctor advocates got a chance to tell a congressional committee about the crisis in chronic pain and how the DEA gets in the way.

Citing smoking-gun memos between White House political staffers and the drug czar's office, the head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Tuesday accused the Bush administration of politicizing the Office of National Drug Control Policy. And they're deposing witnesses.

Eleven years ago, no Americans had the protection of a state medical marijuana law. Now, some 50 million do, but that means some 250 million don't. While progress has been made, it has been slow, and there is plenty more to do.

The US House of Representatives last Friday voted to cut military anti-drug aid to Colombia and subject aerial spraying of coca crops to more restrictions. Now the measure heads for the Senate.

A key Senate committee voted Wednesday to remove the infamous "drug question" from the federal financial aid form. With a measure calling for outright repeal expected to pass the House, it could be the beginning of the end for Souder's Folly.

In 1998, ideologically driven congressional Republicans barred the District of Colombia from using even its own money to fund needle exchange programs. Now, congressional Democrats are moving to end that ban.

The US government reported Monday that coca cultivation had increased in Colombia again last year -- despite a massive aerial herbicide spraying campaign and $700 million in US aid. The announcement comes as congressional Democrats attempt to cut anti-drug aid to Colombia.

Even the Bush administration wanted to get rid of the federal grant program that funds multi-agency drug task forces at the state and local level. But spurred by powerful law enforcement interests, the Senate has voted to restore funding.

The US Sentencing Commission has again called on Congress to act to reduce sentencing inequities around the federal crack cocaine laws. Will Congress finally listen this time?