Latest news with #druglaws
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Senate Confirms Trump's Pick To Head DEA
The Senate has approved President Trump's nomination of Terrance Cole as DEA administrator as the ... More agency weighs a proposal to reclassify cannabis under federal drug laws. The U.S. Senate this week confirmed President Donald Trump's nomination of Terrance Cole as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Senators confirmed the nomination on Tuesday by a vote of 50-47 as a proposal to reclassify cannabis under federal drug laws awaits action from the DEA. Cole served as the Virginia Secretary of Public Safety from 2023 to 2025 after serving in the DEA for more than two decades. In March, Trump nominated Cole as DEA administrator, pending confirmation in the Senate. DEA Weighing Cannabis Policy Reform Cole's confirmation as DEA administrator comes as the agency is weighing a bid began by the Biden administration to reclassify cannabis under federal drug laws. Under the proposal, marijuana would be removed from Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act and placed in Schedule III, a move that would ease research into cannabis. Rescheduling would also likely benefit cannabis companies that are barred from taking advantage of most tax deductions for business expenses. Cole has said that reviewing the proposal to reschedule cannabis 'one of my first priorities' if confirmed as DEA administrator, according to a report from online cannabis news source Marijuana Moment. He declined, however, to indicate his views on the proposal. Cannabis Advocates Call For Rescheduling Marijuana Following Cole's confirmation, cannabis industry organizations and executives were quick to call on the new DEA head to approve the proposal to reschedule cannabis, which has been put on hold since January because of procedural delays. Aaron Smith of the National Cannabis Industry Association sent a letter to Cole following his Senate confirmation, calling on the new DEA administrator to approve the pending proposal to reclassify cannabis under federal drug laws. 'The rescheduling process under the previous administration was unnecessarily protracted and fraught by allegations of malfeasance within DEA and we look forward to your renewed leadership to expedite this process and fulfill President Trump's campaign promise to 'unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule III drug' and ultimately 'implement smart regulations, while providing access for adults, to safe, tested product,'' Smith wrote in the letter cited by Marijuana Moment. 'As such, we strongly encourage your office to continue advancing the cannabis rescheduling process in a timely and transparent manner,' Smith continued. 'Rescheduling would help eliminate unnecessary barriers to research, reduce burdens on legitimate businesses operating under state law, and bring federal policy more in line with overwhelming public opinion and decades of state-level reform.' 'As DEA considers next steps, we respectfully urge your administration to recognize the importance of collaboration with stakeholders who can offer real-world insights into the public health, enforcement, and operational impacts of federal cannabis policy,' the letter adds. 'NCIA and our members welcome any opportunity to be constructive partners in that effort.' Rescheduling cannabis would ease restrictions on marijuana businesses. Terry Mendez, CEO of Safe Harbor Financial, a firm that provides banking services to cannabis businesses, said that with 'the rescheduling of cannabis under federal law stalled, the incoming DEA leadership will play a defining role in whether that reform moves forward—or remains mired in uncertainty.' 'While we welcome Terry Cole's stated commitment to reviewing the rescheduling proposal, the industry needs more than vague assurances,' Mendez wrote in an emailed statement. 'We need regulatory clarity, fairness and above all, urgency. The decisions ahead will directly impact the viability of thousands of licensed cannabis operators and the broader financial infrastructure supporting them.'
The Independent
6 days ago
- The Independent
Indonesia arrests 2 foreigners for smuggling cocaine to Bali
Indonesian authorities said Thursday they have arrested two foreigners accused of smuggling cocaine to the tourist island of Bali. A Brazilian man and a South African woman were arrested separately on July 13 after customs officers at Bali's international airport saw suspicious items in the man's luggage and the woman's underwear on X-ray scans. Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws, and convicted smugglers are sometimes executed by firing squad. The 25-year-old Brazilian man, who police identified by his initials as YB, was arrested with 3,086.36 grams (6.8 pounds) of cocaine in the lining of his suitcase and backpack shortly after he arrived at the airport from Dubai, said Made Sinar Subawa, head of the Eradication Division at Bali's Narcotic Agency. The same day, customs officers caught a 32-year-old South African woman, identified as LN, and seized 990.83 grams (2.1 pounds) of cocaine she in her underwear, Subawa said. During interrogation, YB said that he was promised 400 million rupiah ($2,450) to hand the cocaine he obtained in Brasilia to a man he called as Tio Paulo, while LN expected to get 25 million rupiah ($1,500) after deliver the drugs to someone she identified as Cindy, according to Subawa. Subawa said a police operation failed to catch the two people named by the suspects, whom police believee are low-level distributors. Authorities presented the suspects wearing orange prison uniforms and masks, with their hands handcuffed, at a news conference in Denpasar, the capital, along with the cocaine they were found with. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug-smuggling hub despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population. The Denpasar District Court later Thursday is set to sentence two other groups of foreigners on drug charges. Verdicts for an Argentine woman and a British man who were accused of smuggling cocaine onto the island, and for drug offense against a group of three British nationals, including a woman, are expected to be read out separately at the same court. About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections' data showed. Indonesia's last executions, of a citizen and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.
Al Arabiya
6 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Indonesia arrests two foreigners for smuggling cocaine to Bali
Indonesian authorities said Thursday they have arrested two foreigners accused of smuggling cocaine to the tourist island of Bali. A Brazilian man and a South African woman were arrested separately on July 13 after customs officers at Bali's international airport saw suspicious items in the man's luggage and the woman's underwear on X-ray scans. Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws, and convicted smugglers are sometimes executed by firing squad. The 25-year-old Brazilian man, who police identified by his initials as YB, was arrested with 3086.36 grams (6.8 pounds) of cocaine in the lining of his suitcase and backpack shortly after he arrived at the airport from Dubai, said Made Sinar Subawa, head of the Eradication Division at Bali's Narcotic Agency. The same day, customs officers caught a 32-year-old South African woman identified as LN and seized 990.83 grams (2.1 pounds) of cocaine she in her underwear, Subawa said. During interrogation, YB said that he was promised 400 million rupiah (2450) to hand the cocaine he obtained in Brasilia to a man he called as Tio Paulo, while LN expected to get 25 million rupiah (1500) after delivering the drugs to someone she identified as Cindy, according to Subawa. Subawa said a police operation failed to catch the two people named by the suspects, whom police believe are low-level distributors. Authorities presented the suspects wearing orange prison uniforms and masks with their hands handcuffed at a news conference in Denpasar, the capital, along with the cocaine they were found with. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug-smuggling hub, despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population. The Denpasar District Court later Thursday is set to sentence two other groups of foreigners on drug charges. Verdicts for an Argentine woman and a British man, who were accused of smuggling cocaine onto the island, and for drug offense against a group of three British nationals, including a woman, are expected to be read out separately at the same court. About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections data showed. Indonesia's last executions of a citizen and three foreigners were carried out in July 2016.
Bloomberg
23-07-2025
- Bloomberg
Squeaky-Clean Singapore Steps Up Crackdown on Vapes
Hi, it's Audrey in Singapore, which has some of the world's strictest drug laws — and where vapes are coming under closer scrutiny. But first… Vapes are already banned in Singapore. But you can still walk around sometimes and see locals casually flouting the rules, puffing on their devices — also known as e-cigarettes — at restaurants or outside on their lunch hours in the central business district.
Telegraph
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Top police chiefs call for crackdown on cannabis
Three of Britain's most senior police chiefs have urged their officers to crack down on cannabis use. Sir Andy Marsh, who leads the College of Policing, said the smell of the drug makes him feel unsafe as he urged frontline officers to 'do something about it'. Sir Stephen Watson, the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, and Serena Kennedy, the chief constable of Merseyside Police, joined him in calling for a tougher line on use of the drug. They said ignoring 'the little stuff' would lead to confidence in police being undermined as they launched a new leadership programme for policing. Sir Andy told the Daily Mail: 'In my community, my kids are too frightened to use the bus stop because it always stinks of cannabis. 'I'm speaking from personal experience and people I talk to, if I walk through a town, city, or even village centre and I smell cannabis, it does actually have an impact on how safe I feel. 'One definition of what police should be doing is – [if] something [is] happening which does not feel right, someone ought to do something about it. 'For me, the smell of cannabis around communities, it feels like a sign of crime and disorder.' His comments are a rebuke to Sir Sadiq Khan, who recently backed legalising possession of small amounts of cannabis over fears drug laws are damaging relations between police and ethnic minorities. The Mayor of London came out in favour of decriminalisation after his independent London drug commission found that cannabis laws were 'disproportionate to the harms it can pose, particularly in the case of possession for personal use'. Cannabis 'not really low-level crime' Meanwhile, figures released on Sunday showed three quarters of people caught with the drug were let off with an informal warning. The head of Merseyside Police said: 'The public should absolutely expect us to take positive action around those things and hold us to account over it. 'We have to work with our communities, it's no longer good enough to inflict priorities on them, we have to hear their voices and make them part of the problem-solving.' Sir Stephen said: 'This is the so-called lower level stuff, but actually it really isn't lower level stuff in the sense that this is where the public take their cues as to how safe or otherwise they feel, and how effective or otherwise is policing.' The three also backed an overhaul of the recording of non-crime hate incidents as they are damaging public trust in policing. Sir Andy said 'immutable damage to trust and confidence' in forces is caused when police handle these things wrong.
