New DEA Report Finds Rise in Marijuana Potency Increasing, Expansion of the Illicit Market, Growing Concerns about Youth Vaping and Environmental Damage
(WASHINGTON, DC) – The rapid-expansion of state-legal marijuana marketplaces across the United States has been an unequivocable failure according to new data released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment.
“DEA’s National Drug Threat Assessment affirms nearly all of the dangers we have warned about for the past decade. Higher potency, targeting younger users, an influx of foreign multi-national cartels, and an larger illicit market were all the logical consequences of the pot industries campaign that has put profits over people,” said Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) President Dr. Kevin Sabet, a former three-time White House drug policy advisor.
“Americans are wising up to the fact that marijuana legalization is causing a mental and physical health catastrophe, as well as increasing crime. We are hopeful that the Trump Administration will now take action to prioritize the health and safety of Americans,” Sabet added.
Among the key findings of the DEA’s new report:
- “The potency levels in THC-based products, such as dabs and edibles, are often even higher – sometimes as high as 90 percent.”
- “Product labeling is not controlled and is often significantly inaccurate, putting consumers – especially children who may accidentally consume THC edibles because of their misleading packaging – in greater jeopardy than they are likely aware of.”
- “Over the past 10 years, Chinese TCOs have come to dominate the cultivation and distribution of marijuana throughout the United States…The purchase of real estate for both indoor and outdoor grows, and for the storage of needed equipment, is often initially funded through family and community connections, both in China and in the United States, as many seek to skirt restrictions on the movement of currency from Chinese banks to foreign countries.”
- “Undocumented Chinese immigrants, many of whom spent years in Mexico and were lured to the United States with offers of legal employment, staff many of the grow sites alongside undocumented Mexican immigrants in similar circumstances. The undocumented migrants are closely monitored by the Chinese TCO members who own and manage the grows.”
- “Facilitators working for the Chinese TCOs and/or Mexican cartels transport large amounts of marijuana directly from “legal” states to states that have not legalized recreational use and those where state-level recreational approval is sufficiently recent to not yet have an established, regulated cannabis industry.”
- “The NSDUH revealed that marijuana/THC use increased in every age group in 2022… States that “legalized” marijuana usually have the highest rates of marijuana use in the country. The data also shows use is sharply increasing in vulnerable demographics, including youth and young adults whose brains are still developing.”
- “The cartels work with U.S. drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and violent gangs to distribute drugs throughout the country, all exploiting social media and messaging applications to extend their reach to a larger and younger customer base.”
“We have been working aggressively with our partners in Congress to raise awareness about the issues of foreign cartels operating in state-legal markets. It’s well understood that these pot profiteers are peddling dangerous poisons across state borders, using the state-legal market as cover to sell increasingly potent products to people of all ages,” Sabet said.
Beyond marijuana, the DEA report also raised concerns about hemp-derived THC drug products, an issue SAM has been fighting at the state and federal levels. The DEA report notes, “Delta-8 THC, often sold as ‘weed light,’ can be present in edibles, extracts, and vapes, and may be sold ‘legally’ in hemp or marijuana marketplaces or sold illegally.”
“The DEA’s threat assessment report makes it clear meaningful leadership is needed from Washington to combat the scourge of addiction that’s continuing to sweep the nation. Pot profiteers will stop at nothing to hook a new generation of users, and this report affirms their activities are creating a national security crisis. Lawmakers and the Administration should tell the addiction industry and its well-heeled K-Street lobbyists that more drugs won’t make our communities safer,” Sabet stated.
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