International Drug Enforcement ConferenceThe US Drug Enforcement Administration is holding their annual conference in Montreal, from May 8 to 11, 2006. The conference is called "The International Drug Enforcement Conference," and is open only to DEA agents and senior narcotics officers.
Each of the 70 participating countries sends a delegation of one or two senior drug cops, accompanied by their American DEA handlers - the agents assigned to monitor that nation.

The conference is co-chaired by DEA head Karen Tandy, who engineered the cross-border arrest and ongoing extradition attempt of Canadian pot seed merchant and activist Marc Emery, along with Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams.

During Tandy's tenure as America's highest drug cop, the DEA has become very active in targeting stores which sell bongs and pipes, as well as actively busting medical marijuana clubs and patients in states which have approved legal med-pot access.

Of the 23 previous conferences, 19 have been in South American or Latin American nations, plus two each in the US and Mexico. This is the first time the DEA conference is being held in Canada.

Drug policy activists across Canada have begun planning a counter-conference to expose the failure of the US-led war on drugs, and to reveal the true scope of destruction and death caused by the American Drug Enforcement Administration.

Although plans are tentative, there will likely be heavy participation from a variety of drug policy reform organizations, including Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), eNDProhibition, NORML Canada, Educators for Sensible Drug Policy, Common Sense for Drug Policy, and many others.

Help plan the counter-conference

DEA website on the conference