NORML Comments on Biden’s Pick for DEA Administrator

The Biden Administration has announced its intention to nominate Anne Milgram, who formerly served as New Jersey Attorney General, to the position of DEA Administrator. If confirmed, Milgram will be the first DEA Administrator to have been confirmed by the Senate since the presidency of Barack Obama. Former President Donald Trump previously relied on administrators who were serving in an acting capacity.

“America has begun to fully rethink our ongoing failed practices of over-policing and incarceration that have categorized our racist War on Drugs for decades and our nation needs the next administrator of the DEA to be someone who acknowledges the need for reform, including the legalization of marijuana,” said NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri.

During her tenure as the Garden State’s Attorney General under then-Governor Jon Corzine, Milgram offered cautioned support for the state’s medical-marijuana program when legislation to approve it was passed in 2010.

“During her career, Anne Milgram has demonstrated a priority for data-based decision making and an openness to making important changes to our broken criminal justice system,” added NORML’s Altieri, “If she wants to take over the DEA and its multi-billion dollar budget, the American people deserve to know if she will continue the agency’s hostility to legalization, something that 70% of our citizens support and that is already a legal reality for over 40% of the population.”

Senate confirmation hearings for Milgram are expected in the coming weeks.