OWENS REBUFFED ABOUT MARIJUANA LAW STANCE

DENVER (AP) Colorado's governor and attorney general should not
speculate on whether federal authorities will prosecute people who grow
or distribute marijuana under the state's new medical marijuana law, the
U.S. attorney said.

Gov. Bill Owens and Attorney General Ken Salazar last week urged federal
prosecutors to pursue anyone who sells, distributes or grows marijuana,
even if they qualify for medical use under the state program.

"We in the U.S. Attorney's Office are truly grateful to Gov. Owens and
Attorney General Salazar for sharing their problem with us," acting U.S.
Attorney Richard Spriggs said in a statement released late Friday. "We,
however, are not the solution to their problem. That solution (if there
is one) lies with the 22 duly elected district attorneys and local
police."

Under a ballot initiative passed by voters last fall, the state on
Friday began issuing licenses for people suffering from certain medical
conditions to use marijuana for relief of symptoms, if their physicians
approve.

Owens and Salazar, both of whom opposed the initiative, cautioned that
the neither the law nor the licenses would protect medical marijuana
users from federal prosecution. They asked Spriggs to prosecute anyone
who tried to use the program.

The state might not be able to help even if federal prosecutors decided
to charge medical marijuana users, said state Solicitor General Alan
Gilbert, who reports to the attorney general.

Supporters of the initiative said federal prosecutions of individual
medical marijuana users have been rare in the states that have approved
laws similar to Colorado's.

The voter-approved law requires the names of marijuana license-holders
and their doctors to be kept confidential, Gilbert said.

"We will defend as vigorously as we can the confidentiality of the
registry," Gilbert said.

Federal law prohibits possession and sale of marijuana, and labels it a
Class 1 narcotic, in the same category as heroin and LSD.