MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATES HAIL HOLDER

WASHINGTON -- After California legalized medical marijuana, Charles
Lynch opened his cannabis dispensary nearly two years ago in Morro
Bay, a town halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the
Pacific Coast Highway.

He got a license for his shop and joined the chamber of commerce.
Even the mayor showed up for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

A year later, U.S. drug enforcement agents raided his business. Now
Lynch is worried that he'll get at least five years in prison when
he's sentenced Monday in federal court in Los Angeles on five counts
of distributing marijuana.

Whatever happens, Lynch said, he'll appeal. "I don't feel like I
deserve going through life as a convicted felon for doing things the
state of California allowed me to do," he said.

However, the nation's medical marijuana users are breathing a little
more easily these days, confident that such stories soon will be a
thing of the past.

At news conferences last month and again Wednesday, U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder said that there would be no more federal
prosecutions of cases involving medical cannabis dispensaries. He
said they would be left alone as long as they were complying with state laws.

Medical marijuana advocates predict that the issue soon will leave
the public realm of politics and become a private issue between
doctors and patients. They also said that President Barack Obama had
kept a promise that he made on the campaign trail last year.

Holder said the new policy would be "to go after those who violate
both federal and state law."

"To the extent that people do that, and try and use medical marijuana
laws for activity that is not designed to comport with what the
intention was of a state law, those are the organizations or people
who we'll target," Holder said Wednesday. "And that's consistent with
what the president said during the campaign."

Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., who lobbied the new administration on the
issue, called it "a welcomed shift" in federal policy, charging that
the administration of then-President George W. Bush "foolishly wasted
precious federal resources" to prosecute law-abiding health care providers.

Capps said she wanted federal authorities to respect the wishes of
California voters, adding that the federal government has plenty to
do -- such as protecting U.S. borders -- and should concentrate on
crimes that don't conflict with state laws.

"This new policy makes sense and is far more humane," said Capps, the
new vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health.

Any change in policy comes too late for Lynch, 46, who's already been
convicted.

Lynch's case is igniting debate over how far the government should go
either in prosecuting medical marijuana dispensaries.

Capps said the case "is an example of a big conflict," because Lynch
was operating his business with the full authority of the California
government but was prosecuted under federal law. Federal law, which
supersedes state laws, makes distributing marijuana a crime and
offers no exceptions for medical use.

"Everybody liked the way I had set up the business," Lynch said.

Except for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Federal authorities say Lynch used his business, the Central Coast
Compassionate Caregivers marijuana store, as a front for a supersized
retail drug-dealing center that sold more than $2.1 million in
marijuana over a year. The customers included 281 minors and
undercover DEA agents who paid two to three times the street value
for their marijuana, authorities said.

An area doctor also was indicted, accused of writing marijuana
recommendations for minors without conducting physical evaluations.

Lynch said he was forced to close his business when the DEA told his
landlord that the property would be forfeited if Lynch weren't
evicted. Months later, Lynch was arrested and taken to a federal
detention center in Los Angeles, where his family posted $400,000 in
bail to get him released.

Lynch isn't sure what to expect when he's sentenced Monday. He's not
familiar with breaking the law.

"I've got a spotless record," he said. "I've never even had a DUI.
The only thing on my record is a seat belt violation here in the
state of California. You know, they've destroyed my life personally.
I'm filing for bankruptcy right now. And friends are scared to talk
to me because the federal government is breathing down my neck."