HOLDER VOWS FIGHT OVER PROP. 19

U.S. Will Enforce Drug Laws Even If State Measure Passes, Attorney
General Says.

Stepping up the Obama administration's opposition to Proposition 19,
the nation's top law enforcement official promised to "vigorously
enforce" federal drug laws against Californians who grow or sell
marijuana for recreational use even if voters pass the legalization measure.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder's response to the initiative comes as the
administration has been under pressure to campaign against it more
forcefully. Last week, Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon, chided
the Obama administration for not doing enough to defeat it. And last
month, nine former heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration
publicly urged Holder to speak out.

In a letter sent Wednesday to the former DEA administrators, Holder
wrote, "Let me state clearly that the Department of Justice strongly
opposes Proposition 19. If passed, this legislation will greatly
complicate federal drug enforcement efforts to the detriment of our citizens."

Holder's letter underscores that a period of turmoil, pitting the
federal government against pot legalization backers, will ensue if
voters approve Proposition 19. After California legalized medical
marijuana in 1996 the DEA launched numerous raids against
dispensaries and growers.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who is a co-chairman of the main
opposition committee, released the letter at a news conference at his
headquarters Friday, flanked by two former DEA heads, the district
attorney and the Los Angeles city attorney.

"He is saying it is an unenforceable law and the federal government
will not allow California to become a rogue state on this issue,"
Baca said. "You can't make a law in contradiction to federal law as a
state. Therefore Proposition 19 is null and void and dead on arrival."

Proponents of the measure on the Nov. 2 ballot assailed the attorney
general's one-page letter, denouncing his intention to disregard the
will of California voters and his defense of a failed war on drugs.
"We're not necessarily surprised that the establishment is coming
down on the side of the status quo," said Dale Sky Jones, a
spokeswoman for the Proposition 19 campaign.

The initiative would allow Californians age 21 and older to grow up
to 25 square feet of marijuana and possess up to an ounce. It also
allows cities and counties to authorize cultivation and sales, and to
tax them. Several cities, including Oakland, appear to be poised to
do so if the law passes. Polls have consistently shown that about
half of the state's electorate favors legalizing marijuana.

"It takes the smoke right out of their hookah," said Robert Salazar,
a spokesman for the No on 19 campaign. He noted that Californians
could not count on seeing any of the promised tax revenues if the
federal government arrests anyone who engages in commercial pot sales.

In an Aug. 24 letter and a Sept. 13 news conference in Washington,
the former DEA chiefs asked Holder to make it clear that the
initiative would be preempted by federal law and would put the United
States in violation of international drug treaties, warning about
"the unfortunate message that this silence conveys." Holder,
responding two months later, did not mention either issue.

Instead, he noted that prosecutions under the federal Controlled
Substances Act remain a "core priority" and wrote, "We will
vigorously enforce the CSA against those individuals and
organizations that possess, manufacture, or distribute marijuana for
recreational use, even if such activities are permitted under state
law." He did not say how he intends to do that, but said the
department "is considering all available legal and policy options."

Baca, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and the other law
enforcement officials insisted the initiative is unconstitutional
because it conflicts with federal law. Baca also said he would not
uphold the measure, if it passes, and would arrest anyone with a
25-square-foot plot.

Alex Kreit, an associate professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law
in San Diego and an initiative supporter, said Baca would be
arresting people for acts that are no longer illegal under state law.
"If he does that, he's inviting lawsuits left and right for unlawful
arrest," he said.

Cooley predicted that the federal government would sue and a court
would issue an injunction. "He didn't quite come out and say, 'We're
going to sue you, California,' but it was close enough," said Cooley,
who is also the Republican candidate for attorney general.

The initiative's proponents, reading a different implication between
the lines, said Holder's decision not to mention a lawsuit suggests
the department has concluded it has no grounds to challenge the law.
Department lawyers have been meeting to discuss the issue. "It's
almost as if they acquiesced that they're not going to challenge
Prop. 19," said Jeff Jones, a co-sponsor of Proposition 19 whose
Oakland cannabis club closed after the federal government sued.

Robert Raich, a lawyer who has handled two medical marijuana cases
that went to the U.S. Supreme Court and supports Proposition 19, said
the initiative does not violate federal law because it changes only
state law, not federal law. "Simply because California and the
federal government choose to punish an act differently does not mean
they have a conflict," he said. He said it is no different than the
state's medical marijuana laws, which have been upheld in court.

But he said DEA agents could still enforce federal drug laws. "If the
federal government wanted to waste its limited resources trying to
prosecute some marijuana facility in Oakland, then nothing would stop
them from doing that," he said.

The measure's proponents noted that Proposition 215, the medical
marijuana law, drew a similar federal reaction. "This is 1996 all
over again," said Stephen Gutwillig, the state director of the Drug
Policy Alliance. But he noted that, besides California, 13 states and
the District of Columbia now allow medical marijuana. "All that
happened without a single change in federal law."

Gutwillig criticized the Obama administration for continuing a costly
war on drugs that has failed. But Peter Bensinger, who headed the DEA
between 1976 and 1981 and was at the news conference, described it as
a success because drug use is substantially lower now than at its peak in 1978.

President Obama has said he opposes legalizing marijuana, but last
year his administration ended prosecutions of medical marijuana
collectives and patients that abide by state laws, in effect choosing
to ignore activities that violate the Controlled Substances Act.

Until Holder released his letter Friday, the Obama administration's
fight against the initiative was largely being carried out by the
drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske. The White House press office, calling it
a "sensitive issue," referred questions on the president's role to
the Justice Department, which did not respond to a request for
information or for an interview with Holder.