RELIEF FOR PATIENTS

Attorney General Eric Holder announced last week that the federal
government will no longer prosecute dispensers of medical marijuana
if they comply with state law. That should bring relief to people who
need marijuana for health reasons and free up law enforcement
resources for more important work.

There is considerable evidence that marijuana can be useful in
treating pain, nausea, weight loss and other symptoms associated with
chemotherapy and H.I.V. and other illnesses. Thirteen states,
including California, have legalized marijuana for medical purposes,
which remains illegal under federal law.

The Bush administration was, nevertheless, intent on stopping the
medical use of marijuana. It brought criminal charges against medical
marijuana dispensaries, even ones in states that had made medical use
of marijuana legal. Federal prosecutors treated their targets like
common drug traffickers.

In 2006, the Food and Drug Administration issued a poorly documented
statement disputing marijuana's therapeutic value. It was one of many
cases in which the Bush team distorted science to justify its policies.

Mr. Holder's statement does not mean an end to all medical marijuana
prosecutions. The Drug Enforcement Administration says it will
continue to go after dispensaries that violate state and federal
laws, like by operating as fronts for drug dealers or selling to minors.

The Obama Justice Department has an enormous backlog of legal matters
to work through, from enforcing long-ignored civil-rights laws to
prosecuting white-collar criminals in the banking industry and on
Wall Street. Mr. Holder deserves credit for recognizing that going
after medical marijuana dispensers is not only bad policy, it is a
distraction from work that really matters.