DEA Says It Can Still Arrest People For Marijuana Regardless Of State Legalization, But It’s ‘Not Our Intent’ To Go After Possession Cases

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is reiterating that it retains the right to arrest people over marijuana regardless of state legalization laws—though it’s “not our intent” to go after simple possession cases, a spokesperson said.

With Ohio cannabis shops now open up for adult-use sales, the Ohio State University-owned NPR affiliate WOSU asked DEA about the possibility that students could face federal prosecution for engaging in the state-legal activity.

“Are we necessarily after the kid with an ounce of weed for that kid or for that group of people? We want to provide information and remind that it is still remains of federally illegal substance, and you can be arrested and prosecuted,” DEA spokesman Brian McNeal said.

“Can a student be arrested by a federal agent? Whether it’s FBI, DEA, HSI? Yes, but that is not our intent or our goal to arrest users…who might have a substance on their person,” he said, adding that DEA “typically” only goes after “big fish” involved in manufacturing or distributing controlled substances.

While DEA is barred from using its funds to interfere in state medical cannabis programs under a rider that has been continually approved by Congress since 2014, those protections do not apply to adult-use markets, despite repeated efforts by lawmakers to expand the policy via appropriations legislation.

The spokesperson’s comments also come as the Justice Department works to finalize a proposed rule to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). But as congressional researchers have pointed out, that modest reform would not federally legalize cannabis, and most criminal penalties for cannabis-related activities would not change.

Other federal agencies have also proactively reminded people about the ongoing application of federal prohibition policies even if a state has moved to legalize it.

For example, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently issued a reminder that, while Ohio’s adult-use marijuana market launched this month, government doctors are still prohibited from recommending medical cannabis to veterans—at least as long as it remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) last year similarly advised that Minnesotans who use cannabis remain federally banned from purchasing and possessing guns, despite their state enacting legalization.

Meanwhile, the DEA spokesperson also told WOSU that marijuana has become more potent, and he claimed there’s an increased risk that cannabis products obtained in the illicit market could be contaminated with fentanyl or other more dangerous drugs.

But he said that, rather than try to deter youth from using such substances by fear-mongering, the agency has adopted what he described as a more evidence-based educational approach.

“What we like to do is provide information. The scare tactics of when when I was a kid—when I would sit down and watch Saturday morning cartoons and the guy would fry an egg and say, ‘this is your brain on drugs’—we’ve moved away from that,” he said.