MARIJUANA DISPENSARY CRACKDOWN DRAWS SUIT

The Obama administration's campaign against medical marijuana
dispensaries in California is an unconstitutional attack on the
state's authority to set its own health policies, an advocacy group
charged in a lawsuit Thursday.

While the federal government is entitled to enforce its laws against
marijuana possession, cultivation and sale, its recent tactics -
including threats to prosecute dispensaries' landlords and members of
city councils that license pot suppliers - add up to an "unlawful
assault on state sovereignty," Americans for Safe Access said in
papers filed in San Francisco federal court.

"The government has interfered with and attempted to disable
California's medical marijuana laws in an effort to force it to adopt
and enforce federal prohibitions," attorney Joseph Elford said in the
lawsuit.

There was no immediate comment from the Justice Department.

The suit followed an Oct. 7 news conference by California's four
regional U.S. attorneys announcing new enforcement actions against
suppliers of marijuana in a state that, 15 years ago, became the first
to legalize its use for medical purposes.

The prosecutors said they had sent letters to dozens of property
owners warning them that they faced forfeiture of their buildings, and
possible felony prosecutions, unless they immediately evicted tenants
that were supplying marijuana.

Dispensaries are using the state's medical marijuana law as a cover
for drug profiteering, the prosecutors alleged.

Medical marijuana advocates accused President Obama of reneging on his
2008 campaign promise to let states regulate therapeutic use of the
drug, with minimal federal interference.

The Justice Department replied that it was targeting commercial
enterprises, not seriously ill patients and their caregivers. In
Thursday's lawsuit, however, Americans for Safe Access said
prosecutors are cutting off patients' supplies of medical marijuana,
including collectives that fully comply with state law.

The suit also cited U.S. attorneys' recent warnings to elected
officials in Chico, Eureka and Arcata (Humboldt County) that they
could be prosecuted under federal law for licensing marijuana
dispensaries. Chico and Arcata backed off after receiving the threats,
the suit said.