U.S. EASES STANCE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Attorney General Says Prosecuting Such Cases 'Will Not Be a Priority'

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. directed federal prosecutors
Monday to back away from pursuing cases against medical marijuana
patients, signaling a broad policy shift that drug reform advocates
interpret as the first step toward legalization of the drug.

The government's top lawyer said that in 14 states with some
provisions for medical marijuana use, federal prosecutors should
focus only on cases involving higher-level drug traffickers, money
launderers or people who use the state laws as a cover.

The Justice Department's action came days after the Senate's
second-highest-ranking Democrat introduced a bill that would
eradicate a two-decade-old sentencing disparity for people caught
with cocaine in rock form instead of powder form. Taken together,
experts say, the moves represent an approach favored by President
Obama and Vice President Biden to put new emphasis on violent crime
and the sale of illicit drugs to children. Legislation that would
cover a third administration commitment, to support federal funding
of needle exchanges, is moving through the House.

The announcement set off waves of support from advocacy groups that
have long sought to relax the enforcement of marijuana laws. But some
local police and Republican lawmakers criticized the change, saying
it could exacerbate the flow of drug money to Mexican cartels, whose
violence has spilled over the Southwestern border.

In a statement, Holder asserted that drug traffickers and people who
use firearms will continue to be direct targets of federal
prosecutors, but that, on his watch, "it will not be a priority to
use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or
their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana."

The turnaround could pave the way for Rhode Island, New Mexico and
Michigan to put together marijuana-distribution systems for residents
of those states, according to Graham Boyd, director of the Drug Law
Reform Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. Advocates say
marijuana use can help alleviate pain and stimulate appetite in
patients suffering from cancer, HIV-AIDS and other ailments. But the
American Medical Association since 2001 has held firm to a policy
opposing marijuana for medical purposes.

Under the Controlled Substances Act, which is more than three decades
old, marijuana remains within the category of drugs most tightly
restricted by the government. Donna Lambert, who is awaiting criminal
trial in San Diego County Superior Court for allegedly providing
medical marijuana to another patient, injected a note of skepticism
into Holder's announcement. In an interview, Lambert noted that
senior administration officials had made public comments this year in
line with the Justice Department policy, only to have law enforcement
agents, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, take part in
raids soon afterward.

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said
he and other advocates will watch closely whether federal agents
refuse to participate in raids or send other signals to district
attorneys in the states that allow some medical use of marijuana.

Americans for Safe Access, which supports medical marijuana programs
nationwide, estimated that during the Bush administration federal
authorities conducted 200 raids in California alone. A 2005 U.S.
Supreme Court case made clear that the federal government has the
discretion to enforce federal drug laws even in states that had
approved some relaxation of marijuana statutes for sick patients.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, at a daily briefing in
Washington, declined to address "what states should do" in response
to the Justice Department guidance. But Gibbs said that the president
since January had outlined his medical marijuana policy and that the
Justice Department memo, signed by Deputy Attorney General David W.
Ogden, helped to fill in the details.

The administration stopped far short Monday of endorsing wholesale
marijuana legalization, frustrating some activists. At the
libertarian Cato Institute, official Tim Lynch described the war on
drugs as a "grand failure." He exhorted the White House to take "much
bolder steps to stop the criminalization of drug use more generally."

In the three-page memo, Ogden made clear that the department is not
creating a new legal defense for people who may have violated the
Controlled Substances Act. Instead, the memo is intended to guide
prosecutors on where to train their scarce investigative resources.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police "strongly believes
that the federal government must continue to play a central role in
the investigation and prosecution of . . . traffickers, dispensary
operators, and growers," said Meredith Mays, a spokeswoman for the group.

Rep. Lamar Smith (Tex.), the top Republican on the House Judiciary
Committee, said the Justice Department guidelines "fly in the face of
Supreme Court precedent and undermine federal laws that prohibit the
distribution and use of marijuana."

He added: "We cannot hope to eradicate the drug trade if we do not
first address the cash cow for most drug-trafficking organizations --
marijuana."

The cocaine bill is still pending in the Senate, although advocates
say its prospects are stronger now than over the past decade. The
sponsor, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), said in an interview last
week that he was working to enlist GOP co-sponsors to ease the bill's passage.