CORRECTION: Kevin Sabet, co-founder with
Patrick Kennedy of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, writes to say

The Smart Colorado on our letter is not the Smart Colorado
affiliated with Mel Sembler. This one is a newly formed group that
formed and had a soft launch at our big Jan 10 SAM launch, and its
head is Bob Doyle, a well known anti-tobacco advocate in Colorado.
Same name, confusing I know. But definitely 2 different groups.
They are our affiliate in Colorado.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: A coalition of interest
groups whose members profit off marijuana prohibition, including the former leader of a
chain of abusive teen rehab centers, have sent a letter
to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding that the Department of
Justice prevent Colorado and Washington from taxing and regulating
marijuana.

“We are writing to you to enforce the Controlled Substances Act
(CSA) in Colorado and Washington with respect to recent ballot
measures legalizing marijuana,” reads the letter, which was written
by former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-Rhode Island) on behalf of the
National Narcotic Officers Association Coalition, the National
Association of Drug Court Professionals, Mel Sembler’s Smart
Colorado, and several other groups. 

Kennedy’s letter to Holder goes on to say

These state laws would severely threaten public health and
safety goals, expressly contradict the President’s National
Drug Control Strategy, make it impossible to comply with
federal regulations, and present an obstacle to the
achievement of Congress’ discernible objectives to prohibit
the use, sale, manufacture, and distribution of marijuana.

We urge you to restate marijuana is illegal.The Washington
and Colorado state laws, authorizing retail and commercial sales
of marijuana, marijuana smoking, marijuana possession,
manufacturing and distribution, and the farming of industrial
hemp, violate both the intent of Congress in enacting the CSA
and the letter of the law. 

The Department of Justice and Congress have determined through
the CSA that marijuana is a Schedule I drug and as such
growing, distributing, and possessing marijuana in any
capacity, save a federal research program, is in “violation of
federal law regardless of state laws permitting such
activities.”

Marijuana remains a leading reason kids are in treatment today,
and is a leading cause of car crashes among impaired
individuals – surpassing alcohol in many states. Its abuse
isdirectly linked to mental illness and IQ deterioration.  The
negative impacts of legalization of marijuana are
substantial.

We advocate for an education-oriented strategy to prevent
marijuana use, with focus on early intervention and treatment
of addiction as a health issue.  We also need to
make sure those in recovery are not stigmatized for their
addiction.  State laws legalizing marijuana would severely
hamper our ability to act in the interest of public health. We
urge you to swiftly and publicly declare these state laws
illegal.

Last month Kennedy became the figurehead for Smart Approaches to
Marijuana, a new anti-legalization group founded (and run) by
former Office of National Drug Control Policy advisor Kevin Sabet.
The group, which features David Frum as a board member, has
released a
list of policy prescriptions that it says straddle prohibition
and legalization. One proposal is that anyone caught possessing
marijuana be “subject to a mandatory health screening and
marijuana-education program”–an idea that marijuana advocates see
as “forc[ing] marijuana consumers into treatment and subject them
to mandatory ‘marijuana education’ camps.”

See the correction above regarding Sembler and Smart
Colorado. Sembler, who
ran a chain of abusive teen rehab centers in the 80s and 90s, and
now makes money off mandatory drug testing, gave $250,000
to fight Amendment
64 in Colorado. His wife runs the Drug Free America Foundation,
which released a
video in October 2012 implying George Soros is a
satanist. The head of the National Narcotic Officers
Association Coalition, meanwhile, has
testified that liberalizing America’s drug laws–even
those restricting marijuana–“will make the loss of life from the
September 11th attacks pale by comparison.”
  

See the original PDF below: 

Patrick Kennedy’s Letter to Eric Holder Demanding a Response to
Legal Pot by