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A former deputy administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who says he’s being courted to potentially lead the agency under the newly inaugurated Trump administration has previously described marijuana as a “gateway drug.”
And though he’s said he feels that cannabis rescheduling could potentially help to more effectively allocate federal drug enforcement resources toward cracking down on other subtances, he also previously made comments indicating that he doesn’t understand DEA’s role in making scheduling decisions.
President Donald Trump hasn’t officially named Jack Riley as his selection to run DEA, but the former official says he’s received signals from those in Trump’s orbit that he is being considered as the nominee for the agency.
DEA has “really been in hibernation” over the Biden administration, Riley told ABC 7, adding that, “I think we spent more time talking about the people that unfortunately lost their lives from fentanyl to doing something about fentanyl, and I want to change that.”
He focused his recent policy-related comments on combating the opioid crisis. But if he were to be chosen and confirmed as DEA administration, advocates and stakeholders have a mixed bag of statements from his record to assess how he’d navigate marijuana issues.
For example, in an interview with The Associated Press last year that came amid the Biden administration’s marijuana rescheduling push, Riley said that he remains convinced that cannabis is a “gateway drug.” But even so, he said moving marijuana to Schedule III could be a “positive” policy “in terms of us getting clear to use our resources to combat other major drugs.”
In 2019, following his retirement, he appeared on C-SPAN and took questions on federal cannabis laws, including one where a caller asked for his take on the federal-state marijuana policy disconnect.
Riley said the issue is “widely misunderstood,” because he claimed DEA “has nothing to do with whether it’s legal or not legal” and that “that’s done by other agencies based off the science and what they would look at in terms of it being a medical assistant.”
“We don’t do that. All we do is enforce the regulations Congress imposes on us,” he said.
That’s not exactly the case. While the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) carries out scientific reviews for scheduling decisions, it is DEA that makes the final decision after receiving the health department’s recommendation, per the statute laid out in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
The potential Trump pick added that, “as the states begin to wrestle with their own version of marijuana, I think they’re under the false illusion it’s going to generate long term tax benefit for the states.”
“In reality, if you look at some of the states, they’re just starting to see the overall effect,” he said. “Maybe they were able to collect, you know, a billion dollars in taxes—but what they’re seeing in social services, emergency room admissions, loss of productivity, car accidents in Colorado…now they’re becoming, you know, more and more people driving impaired because of marijuana.”
“And then the other side of it, the edibles—the oils that are taken to be used, the THC that’s extracted and is extremely potent—all of these things are byproducts of our decision, I think, at the state levels to make these laws and make marijuana available,” Riley said. “I think it’s a slippery slope. I certainly hope that if it’s going to be done, it’s done with the proper regulations and the services that require to keep it consistent with the law.”
The former official also authored a book titled “Drug Warrior: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo and the Rise of America’s Opioid Crisis” based on his experience combating international drug trafficking syndicates—and it contains several references to his role in enforcing criminalization over cannabis.
However, advocates may be partially encouraged by the fact that Riley has said on different occasions that he feels there’s a “big difference” between distribution and possession, suggesting that he doesn’t view the latter offense to be a priority for federal law enforcement. He made that point during a House committee hearing in 2015, for example.
“Our goal is to attack the highest levels possible so that we can really hurt the organization from start to finish,” he said in response to a question about DEA possession prosecutions. “With our limited resources, that is the most effective way for us to make a difference across the country.”
Regardless of that stance on enforcement priorities, Riley did suggest in an interview with Notre Dame Magazine in 2012 that he felt local and state cannabis decriminalization laws feed into illicit trafficking.
“The number one [cartel] cash crop is marijuana. If you’re carrying 10 grams, that 10 grams just came from Chapo Guzman, who just beheaded 15 people,” he said, referring to the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Whether Riley is ultimately selected and confirmed to head up DEA is yet to be seen. For now, Biden’s DEA administrator, Anne Milgram, has evidently stepped down, replaced by another career agency official George Papadopoulos in the interim.
But whoever ultimately assumed the top DEA position will be inheriting a years-long rulemaking process to reschedule marijuana initiated under the Biden administration, so advocates and stakeholders are closely following to see who might fill that role.
For now, administrative hearings on the rescheduling proposal that were scheduled to begin on Tuesday have been delayed, with an agency judge recently granting an appeal motion from pro-reform witnesses that will set the clock back at least three months amid allegations of improper communications between DEA and rescheduling opponents and more.
Trump initially chose Hillsborough County, Florida Sheriff Chad Chronister to lead DEA, but the prospective nominee—who strongly advocated for marijuana decriminalization—withdrew from consideration last month amid scrutiny from conservative lawmakers over the sheriff’s record on COVID-related public safety enforcement actions.
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