President Donald Trump has officially named his pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)—selecting a decades-long agency veteran and top Virginia official who’s voiced concerns about the dangers of marijuana and linked its use to higher suicide risk among youth.
On Tuesday, Trump announced that he’s nominating Terrance Cole to serve as DEA administrator in place of Acting Administrator Derek Maltz.
Cole worked at DEA for 21 years and currently serves as Virginia’s secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security (PSHS), where part of his responsibility is to oversee the state Cannabis Control Authority (CCA).
After a visit to CCA’s office last year, Cole posted on LinkedIn: “Everybody knows my stance on marijuana after 30 plus years in law enforcement, so don’t even ask!”
For those who aren’t familiar with his position on the issue however, the post was accompanied by hashtags including #justsayno, #disorders, #notlegal4distribution, #healthissues, #thinblueline and #backtheblue.
Last February, he also shared a link to an article posed on a DEA website titled “NOT ‘Just Weed’: Four Times More Dangerous in Three Decades” that links high THC content in cannabis to “increased problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficulty in thinking and problem-solving, and loss of coordination.”
