AREA OFFICIALS WON'T CHARGE LEGAL POT USERS

Durango residents who obtain the right under state law to use marijuana for
medical reasons will likely be safe from federal prosecution in their hometown.

Area law enforcement officials say their first responsibility is to state
law, meaning that, for practical purposes, the state's new constitutional
amendment allowing the use of marijuana to relieve the pain of certain
debilitating diseases takes precedence over federal law prohibiting
marijuana possession or use.

Medical marijuana use was approved by Colorado voters in November when they
passed Amendment 20 to the state constitution. Lawmakers implemented the
amendment in April.

The law allows residents with diseases including cancer, glaucoma, HIV,
AIDS and multiple sclerosis to register with the state health department
and carry a license permitting them to have up to 2 ounces of marijuana or
six plants, three of them mature.

Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar said last week that a May ruling by
the U.S. Supreme Court, including an opinion that rejected any medical
necessity for marijuana use, does not invalidate Colorado's law.

Carol Garrett, registrar of vital records for the Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment, said on Tuesday that eight medical marijuana
registry identification cards had been issued since they were made
available June 1. She did know if any cards were issued in the Durango
area, but that in any case, such information was confidential.

District Attorney Sarah Law said she has not been contacted by Salazar's
office concerning medical marijuana use. Nor has she been contacted by
citizens or doctors with questions about the new law.

"I can't prosecute somebody for something they're legally able to do," Law
said.

The Durango Police Department will continue to be guided by state law,
Chief Al Bell said.

Regardless of the conflicting state and federal laws, most of the Police
Department's marijuana arrests are handled through state court, not federal
court, he said.

Minor possession -- like the 2 ounces or six plants permitted by the
medical marijuana law -- are not reported to the U.S. attorney to be
prosecuted in federal court, Bell said.

Bell said he hopes it will be easy for police to verify medical marijuana
cards.

"What we would hope is that there's going to be some kind of registry where
those cards can be verified and then we'd verify some other
identification," Bell said. "All those being even, there wouldn't be an
arrest."

Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Denver, said
the U.S. attorney general's office has not contacted the Denver office
regarding the state's new law.

"The short answer is that nothing has changed from the federal government's
perspective," Dorschner said.

The U.S. attorney's office will continue to investigate the cases presented
to it and prosecute when warranted, he said.

State certification aside, there is still no legal way of obtaining the
weed. The state health department will not supply marijuana, and although a
doctor's recommendation is required to obtain a medical marijuana card,
doctors have no special authority to possess marijuana or supply it to
their patients.

Dorschner would not speculate on whether the U.S. attorney's office would
prosecute Colorado doctors who supply marijuana to their patients.

"If a case comes through the door, we'll handle that when it happens," he said.