PRISON TERM FOR A SELLER OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the owner of a
marijuana dispensary to a year in prison, a sign that providers of
medical marijuana still face the possibility of jail time despite the
Obama administration's promise not to prosecute them if they comply
with state law.

In imposing his sentence on Charles C. Lynch, who ran a dispensary in
the surfing hamlet of Morro, Judge George H. Wu said the changed
federal policy did not directly affect his ruling. But the judge
talked at length about what he said were Mr. Lynch's many efforts to
follow California's laws on marijuana dispensaries and the difficulty
the judge had finding a loophole to avoid sending him to prison.

"I find I cannot get around the one-year sentence," Judge Wu said of
federal sentencing laws.

The judge said he had reduced the sentence from a mandatory five
years because Mr. Lynch had no criminal record or history of
violence, and did not fit the strict definition of a "leader" of a
criminal enterprise.

Mr. Lynch, 47, was convicted last summer on five federal counts in
connection with the running of his dispensary and the selling of
medical marijuana to customers under 21.

Legal experts said the case highlighted the conflict between state
and federal laws on medical marijuana. Federal law prohibits the
cultivation, sale and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, but 13
states allow it. In prosecuting for medical marijuana, the Bush
administration had considered only federal laws.

Advocates of medical marijuana said the Lynch case would have a
chilling effect on activities and undermine state laws. At his trial,
and again in seeking leniency in his sentence, Mr. Lynch argued that
he had complied with California's law, which allows certain uses of
marijuana with a doctor's prescription.

"He is caught between California's voter-approved medical marijuana
system and the Bush administration's single-minded effort to smother
it," said Stephen Gutwillig of the Drug Policy Alliance, an
organization that favors a change in drug policy. "That Attorney
General Holder changed federal policy three months ago only makes
this miscarriage of justice all the more disturbing. Charlie is like
a forgotten prisoner of war, abandoned after a truce was declared."

The United States attorney for the Central District of California,
Thomas P. O'Brien, said Mr. Lynch had violated state laws because he
was not his customers' main caregiver and provided no medical
services beyond the marijuana sale.

Matthew Miller, a Justice Department spokesman, said that as a
general rule "we are not prioritizing federal resources to go after
individuals or organizations unless there is a violation of both
federal and state law."

More than 100 marijuana dispensaries -- most in California -- have
been raided since 1996, when California voters passed Proposition
215, which sanctioned medical marijuana. About half the raids
resulted in prosecutions, and about a dozen owners received prison sentences.

There are now about 25 pending federal prosecutions of medical
marijuana dispensaries, most in California, said Kris Hermes, a
spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy
organization.

Among them is a case against Virgil Grant, whose dispensary was
raided twice in 2007. He is scheduled to go on trial in the fall. But
unlike Mr. Lynch, Mr. Grant has a criminal record and so faces at
least 10 years in prison.

Most advocates of medical marijuana agreed that Mr. Lynch presented
the best face for a movement that has tried to cast itself as
mainstream -- like yoga and herbal medicine -- and distance itself
from recreational drug use and advocates for legalization of marijuana.

Mr. Lynch's defense lawyer, Reuven Cohen, said he planned to appeal
the sentence.