MEDICAL MARIJUANA CONFLICT INTENSIFIES

Federal Government Says It Will Uphold U.S. Drug Laws

The dispute over medical marijuana has turned into a war of words,
providing yet more proof of a deepening conflict between California and the
U.S. Justice Department over whether medical marijuana providers should be
left alone.

Last month, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer complained about
recent federal raids of California cannabis clubs in a letter to U.S.
Attorney General John Ashcroft and Asa Hutchinson, chief of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration.

In the letter, Lockyer called the raids "wasteful, unwise and surprisingly
insensitive," because California law allows the use of marijuana for
medical purposes. He said a recent raid in Santa Cruz demonstrated "a lack
of good judgment" and that the federal government's approach threatened to
derail the state's partnership with the DEA in fighting drug trafficking.
Lockyer urged federal officials to meet with him in an attempt to reach a
compromise.

Copies of the letter were forwarded to all California U.S. attorneys,
including San Diego's top federal prosecutor Carol Lam, and the heads of
three DEA offices in California.

Yesterday, Lockyer's office got a response showing that the federal
government isn't about to back down from its stance that the distribution
of marijuana - whether for medical use or not - violates U.S. drug laws.

"Your repeated references to 'medical' or 'medicinal' marijuana illustrates
a common misperception that marijuana is safe and effective medicine,"
Hutchinson wrote in a four-page letter provided to The San Diego
Union-Tribune. "The scientific community has never determined this to be
the case."

Hutchinson also contended that California's law is "being abused" by
traditional marijuana traffickers.

The exchange of letters comes as medical marijuana activists are
complaining that the DEA has increased the number of agency-backed raids in
the last year. In San Diego last week, federal agents uprooted a pot garden
grown by medical marijuana activist Steve McWilliams. Although no arrests
were made, agents said the U.S. Attorney's Office could still decide to
bring charges against McWilliams or his partner, Barbara MacKenzie.

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, which allows patients
to grow and use marijuana for medicinal purposes. In July, a California
Supreme Court ruling gave medical-marijuana patients limited immunity from
prosecution.

Seven other states also have adopted medical marijuana laws.

In Hutchinson's polite but firmly worded letter, he agreed to meet with
state officials. But he emphasized that the DEA has the authority to
continue to confiscate marijuana plants unless the U.S. Congress decides
otherwise.

"In other words, when marijuana is observed in the ordinary course of law
enforcement duties, (the) DEA is legally mandated to seize it, even if no
prosecution results," Hutchinson wrote.

Hutchinson said his agency's position is supported by a U.S. Supreme Court
ruling that held medical need can't be used in a defense against marijuana
charges in federal court, no matter what state law has approved.

Hallye Jordan, Lockyer's spokeswoman, said her office was still reviewing
the letter but was pleased to get a response, no matter what the content.

"The lines of communication are open," she said. "At least we're talking."