FEDERAL POLICIES EASE UP ON STATES

The federal government is going to allow Californians to buy marijuana
as a medication, 13 years after state voters approved it. Yet the
issue isn't quite settled.

What matters now is how federal prosecutors interpret a change in
policy, laid out for the first time this past week by Eric H. Holder
Jr., the new U.S. attorney general. The intention, Holder said, is to
prosecute only egregious cases where marijuana is sold to minors, sold
to people without physicians' recommendations, or sold from an
unauthorized place.

There is a lot of that going on, unfortunately, which clouds matters
for anyone who truly needs marijuana for its proven abilities to ease
pain, nausea and other conditions without the side effects of
prescription medications. Some marijuana clinics are pretty relaxed
about requiring doctors' recommendations, and some are merely fronts
for dealers.

An overeager federal prosecutor could make life difficult for even the
most scrupulously honest clinic operator. But a spokesman for the U.S.
attorney in Los Angeles told the L.A. Times that the office already
has focused only on worst offenders.

Let's hope that will be the practice throughout California, and a
dozen other states that have legalized the medical use of marijuana.
Federal law trumps state law, as these states have learned the hard
way, and under federal law marijuana is treated the same as far more
potent and potentially dangerous drugs.

It's not yet known what effect Holder's comments might have on San
Bernardino County's legal battle over Proposition 215, the state law
that governs medical marijuana use.

The county joined San Diego County in a 2006 lawsuit, citing conflicts
between the state's law and federal regulations. A trial judge ruled
in favor of the state, as did the state Court of Appeal. The U.S.
Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal, but the county has
maintained that it needs the court's direction to move forward.

Sheriff's officials, meanwhile, have already indicated that deputies
have "some latitude" when investigating whether someone's marijuana
use is medicinal or out-right criminal. Felony marijuana possession
and sales charges against Richard McCabe, 66, and his 75-year-old
wife, JoAnn Cates, for example, were dismissed after investigators
looked into the case.

The new attitude in the Justice Department is not a surprise, given
assurances President Barack Obama has made that medical marijuana
clinics would be left alone. But the new attorney general has spelled
out the policy nicely.

The next improvement should be a thoughtful review and reform of all
federal regulations and policies on drug abuse.