FEDS END POT RAIDS AT VALID CLINICS

TRUCE: New Policy Aimed At Reconciling State, Federal Law

Despite word from Washington that there'll be fewer federal raids on
medical-marijuana dispensaries, Los Angeles police and city officials
said Thursday they'll still go after storefront pot peddlers who sell
to school kids and recreational users.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder declared this week that the federal
Drug Enforcement Agency would not arrest medical-marijuana patients
or raid dispensaries that had not broken state laws.

It was a clear break from the Bush administration's pot policy, which
called for raids on medical-marijuana dispensaries even after
California voters legalized them.

The policy shift comes at a critical time for Los Angeles.

City officials are trying to put together a medical-marijuana
ordinance before a two-year moratorium on new dispensaries ends in September.

City Councilman Dennis Zine, an advocate for strictly-medicinal
marijuana facilities, said he and other officials are working to
regulate legitimate dispensaries and get rid of shady operations.

"We are moving forward with our ordinance," Zine said. "Many
establishments are violating the moratorium, (and are) scams for
recreational use of marijuana. The ones that remain ... will be
licensed and regulated and doing what they need to do to help people."

L.A. Police Department officials said they will continue to enforce
state regulations, but not the federal ban. They said officers will
make arrests when dispensaries appear to be operating outside the
boundaries of state law selling to nonpatients or essentially serving
as fronts for illegal drug operations.

LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore said the test will be: "Does it
demonstrate it is part of a medical process, or is it merely under
that guise while it takes all comers by virtue of the cash they carry?"

Holder's announcement marks the latest shift in a legal and political
battle resulting from conflict in federal and state marijuana laws.

California state voters approved a ballot measure in 1996 that
legalized medical marijuana, used as a pain reliever by patients with
cancer, glaucoma and other ailments.

But federal law uncompromisingly bans the drug, leading to situations
in which federal authorities were raiding dispensaries that local
police had left alone.

Potentially adding more confusion to the issue, a bill now pending in
the state Legislature would decriminalize marijuana altogether in
California, although again it would not supersede federal law.

The Obama administration's policy will not change the fate of anyone
already being prosecuted in federal court, said Thom Mrozek,
spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

"We will continue to litigate the cases that we have already brought
in federal courts," he said.

This bodes ill for the closely watched case of Central California
dispensary owner Charles Lynch, who was arrested in a 2007 raid and
convicted last year on federal drug charges.

Lynch is set to be sentenced Monday by a federal judge in Los Angeles
after a high-profile criminal trial.

Prosecutors are seeking the mandatory minimum sentence of five years
in federal prison.

In court documents, prosecutors argued that although Lynch made some
efforts to run a legitimate business, he violated both state and
federal law by selling outside of his business and to minors.

The state's medical-marijuana advocates welcomed the federal policy change.

"Does (Holder's announcement) mean we are going to see less raids?"
said Kris Hermes, a spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, an
Oakland-based medical-marijuana advocacy group. "We certainly hope so."

Still, both federal and local authorities said they will go after
drug traffickers and dealers who simply use California's medical
marijuana laws as a shield.

In one such case in January, LAPD officers responding to a burglary
call at a warehouse near Van Nuys Regional Airport stumbled into a
huge operation for growing and packaging marijuana.

Authorities found about 2,000 marijuana plants, with an estimated
street value of more than $1 million. Investigators linked it to four
other locations, which included another growing facility and a
packaging center.

The owner claimed to own a medical-marijuana clinic but refused to
say which one, said LAPD Lt. Thomas Smart.

"For those of us who have been trying to stick to the spirit of the
California laws here, (Holder's announcement is) very exciting news,"
said Jennifer Ferrell, spokeswoman for the Greater Los Angeles
Caregivers Alliance, a medical marijuana advocacy group.

But she called on city leaders to hurry up with guidelines for local
dispensaries.

"We need to get a city law into effect immediately. ... Otherwise,
it's going to turn into the Wild West out here."