recent years would be considered a national emergency if it were occurring in any state. that's not just my opinion. that's what senator rubio also stated during a hearing in december. since our meeting, there have been several important developments. first, the house approved the cjs appropriations bill that notes that federal efforts along the southwest border have affected trafficking routes and crime rates in the caribbean, and that directs the attorney general to address these trends by allocating the necessary resources to u.s. jurisdictions in the caribbean and reporting back to congress on the specific steps that have been taken. second, about two weeks ago, attorney general holder was sitting where you are now. i asked him why it would not be appropriate for doj to increase the resources it devotes for puerto rico, even if it's only a temporary surge, just as the federal government did when there was a spike in violence on

the u.s. side of the southwest border. i acknowledged current budget constraints, but said that this is a matter of prioritizing limited resources and making sure they are being allocated to the u.s. jurisdictions where the need is the greatest. they respond that they are starting to embrace this surge concept. it is areas called hot spots. that is areas that have seen it rise in violent crime. the attorney general said that puerto rico would certainly be a candidate for such a surge because of the island's violent crime rate. i just hope that action follows those words. third, the homeland security committee just approved a bill today, basically say iing that

should have a counternarcotics strategy for the caribbean border, just along the same lines as the ones we have for the southwest and the northern border areas. i've been fighting for it and it's about to happen. ondcp will be told to do this and do it within 180 days from the time this appropriations bill becomes law. your men and women in puerto rico are doing terrific work. several weeks ago, your agency led an operation that resulted in the arrests of dozens of airline workers in puerto rico who were smuggling drugs on flights from the mainland to the u.s. however, despeighite the recent staffing increases that you briefed me on when we met, i remain absolutely convinced that

the dea does not have enough agents in puerto rico. according to data provided to my office, there are nearly three times as many agents assigned to the miami field office as there are to puerto rico. even though the island's population is 7.5 times greater than metropolitan miami's. and our drug related violence is off the charts. i want to be clear. i'm not saying miami doesn't have significant problems that you need to deal with. i'm just providing this comparison because it brings into sharp -- you realize how underresourced puerto rico is when you see this stat. so i would like to hear your view, in terms of what you can do or not in staffing our office in puerto rico. >> thank you, sir. we have met and you know that the whole caribbean region is of concern the-to-the dea.

when we moved resources in 2002 from our other field divisions down to the southwest border, we left the caribbean region alone because we knew if we were successful on the southwest border, that we would start seeing impact in the caribbean. so san juan, the surrounding that field division has been very important to us, and i actually have increased the resources there. and so let me talk about those increases. in 2009, there were 83 agents assigned to san juan and ponce. i increased it to 95. i made sure that agents graduating from the academy are assigned there. we will continue to try to give as many resources to puerto rico

as possible. on the surge, know before your discussion with the attorney general about surges that dea actually was surging in puerto rico, a couple years back when you needed help with housing projects on the violence there. we responded by sending agents into puerto rico for periods of time to help with that, and we will continue even though we no longer have the met program. we will look for ways to assist our agents and our fellow law enforcement officers in puerto rico with additional resources. >> the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

i wanted to ask you about reports that dea field agents in southern arizona were aware of the gun walking being done by atf. tony colson, the dea's agent in charge of southern arizona during fast and furious said that many dea field agents knew that the atf was walking guns to mexico, but their supervisors told them to back off when they objected. have you investigated who within the dea knew what about fast and furious and why they did so little to stop gun walking to mexico? >> thank you, sir. as i mentioned earlier, those statements, as i understand it from mr. colson, were actually recanted. he said he was misquoted and

he's recanted that. we are very excited and we are waiting on these results from the oig, because prior to mr. colson's statements, we were not aware that dea agents in arizona were aware of the tactics that atf was using. so the investigation is being done by oig. that should answer. we made all our people available. that should answer the question about who knew what for my agency. in the meantime -- >> did mr. colson explain why he made the statements in the first place if he later recanted them? >> i have not had any discussions with mr. colson.

i just know that right after there was a reporting of what he had said, he called our headquarters to say he did not say those things and that he recanted his statement. >> so he denied saying them. he didn't say them and take them back. is that what you're telling us? >> i heard both. hopefully the oig is going to interview him -- >> so you're relying on the office of the inspector general to investigate his statements and whether or not it's true that agents working under him were aware of the fact that gun rung was taking place. because we know it was taking place, so it's not all that surprising that some dea agents might know what was going on with regard to atf activities in the same region. but at the same time, our greater concern is why supervisors might have told the

agents to "back off" when they raised concerns about the wisdom of sending guns to drug dealers and others in mexico that ultimately resulted in the death of a border patrol agent. you will report back to this committee once you hear from the oig and let us know what actions have been taken to make sure that when people find out that wrong doing is taking place, that they are freely able to report it to their superiors, and then have some interagency discussions between atf and dea to say hey, guys, what are you doing here giving guns to people that we're trying to stop from smuggling drugs in the united states. it's not a good idea. >> the oig report will answer the questions about what our folks knew. the oig was given the unilateral

authority to investigate that. >> we will welcome that. i want to get into another area of interest. what assistance does the dea give to state and local law enforcement to combat synthetic drugs? >> thank you for that question. since synthetic drugs is a new emerging very troubling problem, i personally have been working with the chiefs both of the national sheriff's association, but also of the iecp. they are the ones that first brought it to my attention that synthetics was a problem. and so we have given them considerable assistance, both in training classes. we've also offered our chemists -- >> what additional tools do you need that would make the dea better able to combat synthetic drug abuse? >> actually, this committee just helped, and that was the

scheduling of so many of those chemicals. that was number one. number two, you have given us the support, our funding, our agent work force. that has allowed us to teach our agent work force about this new and emerging trend. it's also allowed us to teach our state and local counterparts about the emerging trend. and we've been able to expand our investigations now internationally to go after the sources of supply that are actually supplying the chemicals showing up in our neighborhoods and then eventually being sold as spice and k-2. >> thank you very much. >> the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen. >> thank you, mr. chairman. is it leonhart? >> it's leonhart.

think of the o being silent. >> thank you. what's your budget? approximately. >> well, currently, two million -- >> two million? >> i'm sorry. two billion dollars is expenses. and then we have additional, with a fee account for our diverse program. so total budget is -- >> over two billion dollars. did you get any confiscation money? do you get any moneys from confiscations of properties? >> you're talking about forfeiture? >> yes. >> there is money that the department of justice gives us -- >> how much money do you get from that? do you have any idea at all? >> if you give me a moment -- >> i'd rather not take the time for you to research your files. you don't know. maybe one of your staff members can give it to you. what is your number one drug you're fighting? what's your priority? >> well, our priority right now

is pharmaceutical drugs. >> and what's your second priority? >> we don't prioritize specific drugs because the organizations that we are going after are p i polydrug. >> you're going after the effect of the organizations and going after the organizations. is that right? >> we're going after the organizations that are having the most impact on our communities. >> right. >> supplying the most drugs and the most violence. >> right. so if the fact that meth or crack or heroin is causing the most damage to individuals, if that's not the number one choice of the crime syndicate, it's not your number one choice. your number one choice is the crime syndicate, not the fact that heroin and meth and crack are destroying people's lives? >> no, not correct. the organizations now have their polydrug.

the colombian cartel which are a priority are the primary source for methamphetamine, cocaine, and a good amount of the heroin on the streets. >> right. >> they're a priority. >> so that's your number one priority, going after that cartel. >> going after -- our number one priority is going after those that most impact the united states. >> what do they emphasize in their arsenal? >> the mexican cartel's polydrug is cocaine, meth, heroin, marijuana. >> marijuana is fourth. would you agree that marijuana causes less harm to individuals than meth, crack, cocaine, and heroin? >> as a former police officer, as a 32-year dea agent, i can tell you that i think marijuana is an insidious drug -- >> that's not the question i asked you. does it cause less damage to the american society and to individuals than meth, crack,

cocaine, and heroin. does it make people have to kill to get their fix? >> i can tell you that many teens enter treatment -- >> can you answer my question? answer my question, please. >> i'm trying to. it causes harm because it's young people that are using it. if you're talking about -- >> it's not just young people. but you're trying to answer the question like i'm jeff session. i'm not senator sessions. i'm asking you a question. does heroin cause more damage to society and cause -- does meth and heroin cause more deaths than marijuana? >> all drug trafficking causes deaths. i don't have a breakdown of how many -- >> does aspirin cause deaths? >> i'm talking about the illegal drugs. i don't have a breakdown for you of how many deaths are caused by cocaine and how many -- >> let me ask you this. have you ever seen a person who had cancer and used marijuana to

help them eat or to aleve their condition, someone suffering from terminal cancer? >> no, i have not. >> and if you had, and i have and seen that it helps them with their appetite and makes them smile, would you agree that it has some benefit to society for somebody who's dying, maybe a navy seal who spent his life defending this country and marijuana is the only thing that makes him eat and makes him smile according to his 80-year-old mother? is there not an efficacious situation there? >> i think that's between him and his doctor. >> well, if it's between him and his doctor, why does the dea take a position that medical marijuana is wrong, which you've taken? you've taken the position it's not between him and his doctor. you have a publication, which on page 6 of your publication in 2011 has the most insane and banal paragraph. the legalization movement is not simply a harmless academic exercise. the moral danger of thinking -- >> the gentleman's time has

expired. the gentlewoman from california, ms. choo. >> thank you, mr. chair. i represent a district in los angeles county where three years ago, a young rising star, an elected official in my district was murdered by the mexican drug cartel when he was simply visiting relatives there. this tragedy is why my colleague and i worked on legislation that would allow u.s. law enforcement to more easily freeze the illicit proceeds of criminal organizations in u.s. financial institutions in hopes of freezing those assets for seizure. and our legislation, which was signed into law, allowed u.s. courts to freeze assets once there was evidence of criminal activity. so what role has this law, the

preserving foreign criminal assets for forfeiture act played in assisting dea's financial organizations and interindicting them, laundering organizations? >> first, let me thank you for bringing us that legislation. it has helped already. i'm aware that more than $15 million has been frozen because of that. so we want to thank you for it and know that with dea, especially our international investigations, that regularly are conducted. it's essential to our efforts that we have a way to freeze those assets in the middle of an investigation and during an investigation. we must be able to freeze the money for these foreign countries, and this has allowed us to do it.

>> thank you for that. i wanted to follow up on your statement that cooperation between the united states and mexico is at an all-time high and that in particular, the dea is grateful for the extradition relationship that you have with mexico, because it's an important to ensure that criminals are brought to justice in this country. i wanted to know what you mean by the relationship is at an all-time high, and also the extradition of -- you talked about the extradition of 93 individuals. i want to know what the status is of those who have been extradited. >> the relationship with mexico is at an all-time high. i say that because we are now working investigations jointly. we are able to develop partners in mexico that we can share

intelligence with and can actually take action on that and vice versa. they develop intelligence and are sharing it with us. we have represents representatie mexican federal police, the ssp, and from the pgr that are even sitting in our el paso intelligence center. so that's a true partnership. we -- especially working the violators, the cartel heads that are most important to mexico, working with them we've doubled the number of high-value targets that they've been able to arrest in mexico by sharing this intelligence. on the extraditions, a number of these extraditions, the folks have already been prosecuted and are serving sentences in the united states. many significant sentences. the other thing that mexico has

done by extra dieting them to us is those that cooperate after being incarcerated are really giving us a clear picture as to how the mexican cartels are operating and that has helped us and mexico because we share that information determine the best way to go after those cartels and those traffickers. >> how many have been convicted and sentenced? >> i can get you those numbers. i don't know. many have pled guilty so a good -- a good number of them have pled guilty and many have been convicted. >> and how has it impacted the drug trafficking and violence along the border? >> well, especially of the high-value targets who are the heads or lieutenants of the cartels that we've been able to incarcerate, it has helped mexico because they have been

able to take the people that have been able to have the power to corrupt mexican officials, they now are in jail cells in the united states. no longer able to run their operations. so it has affected -- it has affected the drug supply as well. we have done -- together we have done such damage to the cartels that that is why you see these drops in availability of cocaine on the streets of the united states and the price up and the parity down. >> gentlemen woman's time has expired. the gentleman from colorado, mr. polis. >> thank you, mr. chair. i'd like to follow up on my colleague, mr. cohn's questions, and i want to try to get a clear answer to make sure the drug enforcement administration's aware of some of the evidence. is crack worse for a person than

marijuana? >> i believe all illegal drugs are bad. >> is methamphetamine worse for somebody's health than marijuana? >> i don't think any illegal drug is good for -- >> is heroin worse for someone's health than marijuana? >> again, all drugs -- >> i mean, either, yes, no, i don't know. i mean, if you don't know, you can look this up. you should know this as the chief administrator for the drug enforcement agency. i'm asking you a straightforward question. is heroin worse for someone's health than marijuana? >> all illegal drugs are bad. >> does this mean you don't know? >> heroin causes an addiction. >> okay. >> it causes -- causes many problems and is very hard to kick. >> so does that mean the health impact of heroin is worse than marijuana, is that what you're telling me? >> i think -- i think you're asking a subjective question. >> no, it's subjective. just looking at the science. this is your area of expertise.

i'm a layperson, but i've read some of the studies. i'm aware of it. i'm asking you as an expert in the subject area. is heroin worse for someone's health than marijuana. >> i'm asking as a police officer and as a dea agent that these drugs are illegal because they are dangerous, because they are addictive. >> okay. >> because they do hurt a person's health. >> so heroin is more addictive than marijuana? is heroin more addictive than marijuana in your experience? >> generally the properties of heroin, yes, is more addictive. >> is methamphetamine more addictive than marijuana? >> well, both are addictive. >> well, is methamphetamine more highly addictive than marijuana? >> i think some people become addicted to marijuana and some people become addicted to methamphetamine. >> you mentioned at the top -- your top priority i believe you indicated to us is abuse of prescription drugs. is one of the main classifications of prescription drugs painkillers that you're concerned about?

>> that's correct. >> and are those painkillers addictive? >> yes, they are. very addictive. >> are those painkillers more addictive than marijuana? >> all illegal drugs are in schedule 1 are addictive. >> well, again, this is a health-based question. i know you obviously have a law enforcement background but i'm sure given your position you're testimony with the science of the matter. i'm asking again, clearly your agency has established abuse of prescription drugs as the top priority. is that, therefore, an indication that prescription drugs are more addictive than marijuana? >> all illegal drugs are addictive. >> okay. your agency has established abuse of prescription drugs as its top priority. you've indicated as much to us. does that mean abuse of prescription drugs is a greater threat to the public health than marijuana? >> because it's an emerging threat, because people are

turning to prescription drugs faster than any other drug, that is why we prioritize it. >> well, in many states, including my home state of colorado, we have a legalized and regulated regime of medical marijuana. we have found some great degree of success in combatting the use of prescription drugs by making sure that patients have access to medical marijuana which the science indicates, and i would certainly encourage you to look at the science, is less addictive and less harmful to human health than some of the narcotic prescription drugs that are abused and also when they're used on label they can be very harmful to health as well. would your agency consider supporting medical marijuana provisions when that can be used to -- in pursuit of your top priority, which is reducing abuse of prescription drugs, if it can be documented that the

use of medical marijuana can help reduce the use of prescription drugs. is that something you're willing to pursue? >> well, congress has determined that marijuana is a controlled substance and dea's tasked with enforcing federal law. >> you mentioned priorities though. you said top priority, reducing abuse of prescription drugs. one tactic to do that would be use of medical marijuana and i wanted to make sure, again, top priority, in pursuit of your top priority are you willing to look at the use of medical marijuana as a way of reducing the abuse of prescription drugs? >> we will look at any options for reducing drug addiction. >> the time of the gentleman has expired. gentlemen woman from texas, ms. jackson lee. >> thank the chairman and the ranking member, administrative leonhart, thank you for your appearance here today. having been in phoenix a couple of weeks ago, let me express my

appreciation for the service of the drug enforcement agency officers, their professionalism, and as well the work that is done in houston, texas, where we are the center point, if you will, for a number of issues dealing with gun trafficking and as well the confluence, if you will, of money, drugs, and guns. and so we're well aware of the importance of collaboration. i'm going to ask a series of quick questions, and appreciate helping me get as much on the record as i possibly can. what is the importance of collaboration between the major federal law enforcement, i use as an example fbi, dea, atf, and be others along with those that i represent on homeland security? what's the importance of that? >> well, ma'am, let me start by saying that state and local

participation has been dea's bread and butter for the 39 years we've been an agency, and you combine that partnership with the partnerships that we've developed with other federal agencies. i don't think there's anything stronger, anything more effective at attacking violent crime, attacking drug trafficking than having task forces. so to answer that, especially in the houston -- >> my question is, is the collaboration strong, positive, continuing and do the administrators of the respective agencies encourage that collaboration? >> yes. we are probably collaborating now more than before. >> great. let me move to "fast and furious" for a very brief question. has there been a thorough investigation of dea's contact or involvement by the oig? >> yes. we