DEA RAID A STEP IN THE WRONG DIRECTION

It doesn't matter whether you think the United States is way overdue
to legalize the use of marijuana or if the drug is public enemy No. 1
these days, a stunt this week by local Drug Enforcement Agency
officials bodes ill for all citizens.

A top DEA official based in Denver says that local medical marijuana
dispensaries are illegal, and his office forced the arrest of one
local "provider" that's taken his views on the matter to the media.

The Denver Post and other media agencies reported that DEA agents
raided the home of Highlands Ranch resident Chris Bartkowicz on
Friday. Bartkowicz had been bragging to local reporters that he has a
wildly successful crop of marijuana growing in his basement and is
making a big profit from it by supplying it to so-called medical
marijuana dispensaries.

After the arrest, DEA agent Jeffrey Sweetin told the Post that
medical marijuana is illegal in Colorado. The statement flies in the
face of Colorado's constitutional amendment allowing for it.

Even more egregious is that the Obama administration recently said
that the federal government would "look the other way" on this matter
in states that have legalized medical marijuana and are finding their
way through a process of regulation.

Sweetin's comments raise serious questions about just who's in charge
of this federal agency, and how inappropriate it is for this agency
to usurp state's rights in contradiction to the will of the president.

The Obama administration needs to immediately step in to the matter
and clarify whether Colorado will be able to pursue its
constitutional mandate to permit the medical use of marijuana.

As to Sweetin's remarks about the medicinal properties of marijuana,
he's clearly out of his league as a law enforcer to be taking on the
role of a medical research scientist.

All of his comments should be worrisome to state residents, no matter
how they feel about the recent medical marijuana controversy.

Of course all of this points to the fact that instead of pouring
hundreds of billions of dollars into a useless war against marijuana
and sending hundreds of billions of consumer dollars into the hands
of murderous Mexican drug criminals, Colorado and the rest of the
United States could be taxing and regulating a huge industry that
will never go away.

And even numbers created by government officials who've come down
closer to Earth on the matter make it clear that, just like alcohol,
prohibition only serves to enrich criminals, while regulation and
legalization could be made to serve us all.

Until common sense prevails, however, reasonable federal law and
chain of command will have to suffice.