Are Ex-DEA, Reform Opponents Profiting From Marijuana Prohibition?

A common refrain in politics is that if you want to find the root cause of certain policies or stances, simply follow the money. Last week, U.S. News & World Report did just that.

Early last week, a group of former DEA administrators released a statement calling on the Department of Justice to prevent Colorado and Washington from implementing new marijuana regulations in accordance with laws passed in those states in November. In an article published later that week, the magazine explored the possibility that some of the signatories of that statement may have something to gain from keeping marijuana illegal:

Two of the former Drug Enforcement Agency officials who came out this week urging the federal government to nullify new state pot laws in Washington and Colorado are facing criticism for simultaneously running a company that may profit from keeping marijuana illegal.

Robert L. DuPont, who was White House drug czar under Presidents Nixon and Ford, and Peter Bensinger, who was administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration in the 1970s, today run Bensinger, DuPont & Associates, a company that specializes in workplace drug testing, among other employee programs.