Daily Drug War Digest -- September 17, 2026

The Trump administration rants about fentanyl but sends federal agents assigned to fight it to instead help deport maids and day laborers, UN experts call for racial justice in drug policy, and more. 

Legal marijuana sales in Virginia inch ever closer. (Creative Commons)

Marijuana Policy

Virginia Releases Draft Regulations for Recreational Pot Market Launching Next Year. The commonwealth's Cannabis Control Authority (CCA) has published a first draft of proposed regulations for sales and production for Virginia's recreational marijuana marketplace, which is set to get underway next year. 

The proposed regulations envision the licensing of up to 350 retail marijuana outlets statewide. Those seeking to operate one of those businesses would have to pay a $4,000 application fee, a one-time $20,000 initial authorization fee, and an annual $15,000 license fee. 

The regulations also include a microbusiness license that allows operators to run a vertically integrated small business with retail, cultivation, and processing operations. Those licenses would carry a $1,000 application fee, a $2,500 initial authorization fee, and a $6,000 annual license fee. 

The microbusiness license was designed to help make the marijuana space more accessible to small businesses, said CCA acting head Jamie Patten. 

"In a lot of ways that microbusiness license is perfect for small Virginia operators, and so we really want to offer a rate that makes that achievable for people," Patten said.

And fee waivers are available for "impact licensees"—people who hold at least a 51 percent stake in the business and live in neighborhoods that are economically disadvantaged or which suffered disproportionate impacts from marijuana policing. 

In addition to a five-tier system of permits for pot cultivation enterprises allowing up to 35,000 square feet at the highest tier, separate permits for medicinal and recreational retail outlets, and processing permits, there will also be permits for delivery operators, testing facilities and processors.

The CCA plans to open license applications by February 1 and anticipates a July 1 grand opening for the legal marijuana marketplace. But it still has to approve a final draft of the regulations. It is currently gathering feedback. 

"These (regulations) are not final by any means. This is a draft copy of the regulations," Jake Shuford, the CCA’s legislative and regulatory manager, told CCA board members at their meeting last week. "We will continue to tweak these regulations as we engage with stakeholders and others throughout this process."

Drug Policy

Trump's Mass Deportation Policy Led to Big Drop in Fentanyl Investigations, GAO Report Finds. A  report from a government watchdog, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the Inspector General, finds that the agency's laser focus on mass deportations had led to a big drop in investigations into the illicit fentanyl trade. 

Agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a branch of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within DHS, who normally focus on drug trafficking, human smuggling, and transnational gang activities, have instead been diverted to the deportation campaign and are picking up maids and day laborers instead of fentanyl traffickers. 

The report found that the number of hours agents spent on fentanyl-related criminal investigations declined by 31 percent, while the number of immigration enforcement hours increased by 800 percent. 

The decline in fentanyl trafficking investigations comes even as the Trump administration has classified the synthetic opioid as a  weapon of mass destruction and designated drug trafficking organizations handling the drug as foreign terrorist organizations

The priority shift is "mixed messaging at best from the department and the administration," said Eric Balliet, a former HSI agent. The administration's rhetoric about against fentanyl and its traffickers would suggest an "all hands on deck approach" toward countering the drug, but that is not what is happening, Balliet said. 

"When you look at the competing priority list and which presents a more public safety threat to the general population of the United States, I think it's hard to say that fentanyl should not be at the top of that list," he said.

The federal watchdog reviewed federal laws and regulations, studied agency policies and reports, conducted on-site visits, and interviewed a hundred HSI agents across the country. At one office, the report found, agents spent 99 percent of their time working on deportations, "leaving almost no capacity for fentanyl investigations."

"Given HSI's unique role in disrupting fentanyl supplies into the United States, failure to address these issues may lead to an increase in illicit fentanyl available to the public and additional overdose deaths," the report said.

HSI agents typically investigate transnational criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl and try to disrupt its supply chains, so when agents are diverted to other tasks, the work of infiltrating those groups, scouring bank records, and intercepting communications falls by the wayside.  

"All this empowers these networks to continue to operate at the scale and scope that they do," Balliet said. "You are making it easier on these networks to operate at will when they have fewer special agents that are picking apart or examining every part of their infrastructure apparatus."

International

UN Expert Mechanism Calls for Drug Law and Policy Reforms Centered on Racial Justice. The International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement was established in July 2021 by the UN Human Rights Council to make recommendations, inter alia, on the concrete steps needed to ensure access to justice, accountability and redress for excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officials against Africans and people of African descent. The President of the UN Human Rights Council appoints theexperts.

The UN Expert Mechanism released the following statement calling for racial justice in drug policy on Wednesday:

"Punitive drug laws and policies continue to drive systemic racism against Africans and people of African descent around the world, the International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement warned today, calling for a fundamental shift towards human rights-based, public health-oriented approaches.

"In its latest report to the Human Rights Council, the Expert Mechanism concluded that racial discrimination is deeply embedded in drug control systems, seriously undermining the enjoyment of human rights by racialized groups, particularly Africans and people of African descent.

"The evidence gathered by the Mechanism demonstrated that the enforcement of drug laws and policies does not operate in a vacuum. Rather, it often mirrors and reinforces long-standing patterns of racial discrimination," said Tracie Keesee, the acting Chair of the Expert Mechanism. "These patterns are rooted in the legacies of colonialism and enslavement, the racialization of drugs, the punitive approaches to drug control, and the continuing influence of the so-called "war on drugs."

"The report found that racial discrimination occurred across multiple stages of drug law enforcement, including questioning, arrests, prosecutions, sentencing, detention, and post-conviction consequences. It highlighted the role of racial profiling, over-policing of communities of African descent, excessive use of force, and other law enforcement practices that contributed to the disproportionate criminalization and punishment of these communities.

"The harms resulting from drug enforcement are often exacerbated by intersecting forms of discrimination. Factors such as gender, age, migration status, and socio-economic disadvantage can increase the risk of human rights violations and deepen the impact of discriminatory policing and criminal justice responses. The report found that children and young men of African descent are among those most adversely affected by punitive drug policies and their enforcement.

"The report also identified promising practices and policy approaches aimed at dismantling racial discrimination and advancing equitable responses to drug use and drug-related activities. It underscored the importance of decriminalization, alternatives to detention, accountability, data collection, and community engagement.

"The Expert Mechanism put forward practical recommendations aimed at addressing systemic racism in drug enforcement. Key measures included reforming drug laws and policies that produce discriminatory outcomes, strengthening accountability for abuses by law enforcement officials, improving data collection and oversight, and ensuring that affected communities play a meaningful role in shaping policies that impact their lives.

"The pursuit of racial justice requires confronting the systemic inequities that continue to shape drug policy and law enforcement responses," said Víctor Rodríguez Rescia, a member of the Expert Mechanism. "Moving beyond isolated reforms, we need a fundamental rethinking of current approaches, placing human rights, racial justice, equality, public health, and meaningful community participation at the center of policy and practice."

The Expert Mechanism will present its report to the Human Rights Council during its sixty-third session on September 29.