A PLAN FOR POT

The federal switch on raiding medical marijuana dispensaries is a
good first step, but a more comprehensive policy is needed.

California voters approved the use of marijuana prescribed for
medical purposes in 1996, yet the possession, cultivation and use of
marijuana remains illegal under federal law. There is no common
ground between these two positions, and the Drug Enforcement
Administration has relentlessly enforced the federal government's
prerogative to supersede state law. Oakland-based Americans for Safe
Access, the nation's largest advocacy group for medical marijuana,
estimates that 200 dispensaries across the country were raided in
just the last two years, and scores of people are awaiting trial or
have been incarcerated. During his presidential campaign, Barack
Obama promised that the raids would stop if he won, but they
continued, the most recent in Northern California two days after his
inauguration.

So when Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. affirmed last week that it was
no longer the Justice Department's policy to raid dispensaries, it
was cause for celebration by patients, doctors and advocates in the
13 states with medical marijuana laws, and it offered the hope that
the Obama administration will devise a policy that takes state laws
into consideration.

Of course, backing off the raids creates new legal conundrums. For
example, more than 100 people have been arrested, prosecuted and/or
imprisoned, some for up to 20 years, for doing what the federal
government now says it will ignore: running a dispensary or
purchasing marijuana from one. How will the Justice Department
proceed in these cases? The Bush administration also threatened the
300 or so California landlords who lease to dispensaries with
prosecution and asset foreclosure if they did not evict tenants. Will
these intimidation tactics cease?

Stopping the raids is certainly worthwhile -- there are better uses
for the DEA's limited resources than locking up people who sought
relief from the ravages of, say, chemotherapy -- but as a long-term
policy, it is unworkable. Last year, California Atty. Gen. Jerry
Brown issued guidelines for the cultivation, dispensing and use of
medical marijuana. A review of them would be a good place for the
Obama administration to start when crafting its own. The country
needs a comprehensive policy, not just a wink and a nod.