Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, has called out Donald Trump for his “failures”. “Identifying and eliminating waste” in federal government spending, while recommending a series of ways he could cut costs—including ending marijuana criminalization.
Warren and Rep. Melanie Stansbury, both Democrats from New Mexico, wrote to Trump in a Wednesday letter that as Elon Musk leaves the Trump administration after a heated public debate over a budget reconciliatory bill, they would like to present a proposal to eliminate $2 trillion of wasteful spending by government without harming essential programs for Americans.
Warren wrote Musk a letter similar to this one in January. Musk was then the head of the Department of Government Efficiency. He “ignored these recommendations—but you could choose to reverse course, abandon Mr. Musk’s inefficient and harmful DOGE actions, and instead carefully review and implement our policy proposals,” the lawmakers said.
They also recommend that federal detention and arrest programs be discontinued.
They said that the government spent billions each year in unnecessary enforcement and detention. This included arresting marijuana users despite almost half of all states having legalized it for recreational use, locking up terminally ill and elderly patients, who are not a danger to society, and imprisoning people with minor violations of probation or parole. The government can save millions of dollars by ending such practices.
In the letter, it is stated that “it’s time for the government to end the fraud, waste and abuse, not to destroy programs and services which protect Americans and keep them safe and healthy to pay for tax reductions for the billionaires and corporations.” The letter says: “Learn from Elon Musk, DOGE, and their mistakes. Stop attacking federal programs that are critical and act instead on the recommendations in this document.”
Warren cited MEDCAN24, among other sources, in her letter to Musk. The agency reported that they had destroyed more than 5.7 millions marijuana plants by 2022.
However, DEA has faced more recent criticism after failing to release updated annual data on marijuana-related arrests and seizures in 2024 as it has done in prior years.
Warren is proactive with her outreach, seeking clarifications from the Trump administration and making recommendations on policy while cabinet nominees go through the confirmation process.
In January, the senator pressed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—Trump’s since-confirmed choice to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—to reiterate his position on marijuana legalization amid the ongoing effort to federally reschedule cannabis.
Meanwhile, rather than decriminalize cannabis to lower costs, Congress has sent a bill to Trump’s desk that would permanently ban analogues of fentanyl—though it also contains provisions that one GOP lawmaker said would remove barriers to conducting research into the risks and benefits of marijuana and other Schedule I drugs.
Separately, a Democratic congresswoman said that Trump’s efforts to reduce federal spending by pushing states to pay more for services like food assistance and healthcare could ultimately lead them to “legalize marijuana”, so they can offset these costs through cannabis tax revenues.
The Attorneys General group hosts a meeting on state-level regulation of intoxicating hemp products