ONLY CONGRESS CAN RESOLVE POT BATTLE

Realistically, Los Angeles leaders should direct their efforts at
changing the rules, not telling federal agencies what to do.

Following in the footsteps of Torrance, Carson and a number of other
South Bay cities, the Los Angeles City Council this week approved a
moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries.

In the meantime, the city is preparing to draw up tighter
restrictions on existing dispensaries.

Considering how dispensaries have proliferated in recent years and
have fueled concerns about related criminal activities, it was a
sensible vote. But the council took the matter one step further by
also calling for a stop to raids on clinics by federal agencies, such
as the Drug Enforcement Agency.

One can see how both sides are driven by a certain moral authority.
City lawmakers want to honor the mandate of California voters who in
1996 approved Proposition 215, allowing the use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes. And federal agents are simply using their
authority to uphold marijuana's designation as a controlled substance
under federal law.

A strongly worded letter signed by Councilman Dennis Zine and other
council members called on the DEA administrator to end raids on pot
dispensaries. Zine has also called DEA agents "bullies."

There may be a lot of frustration around this muddled legal issue,
but we don't see much good coming out of a confrontation between city
politicians and federal agents. After all, the agents are simply
doing the job they've been assigned, which is carrying out the will
of Congress.

Clearly, if the city wants to end the raids, it must do more to get
the attention of federal lawmakers. The House on Wednesday rejected
legislation that would have addressed the issue by blocking the
Justice Department from interfering with California and other states
that allow the use of marijuana to treat debilitating diseases.

In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that medical marijuana users could
be federally prosecuted, though the court did suggest that supporters
of medical marijuana could lobby Congress to change the law.

That's where municipal leaders who support regulating medical
marijuana at the local level should place their energies.

We previously expressed a hope that the federal agents would
concentrate on violations of drug laws more egregious than medical
marijuana use. That would seem to be a better use of resources. That
said, however, it's just not too realistic to think the city
officials' efforts to tell federal drug enforcement agents how to do
their jobs will have much effect without a sea change in Congress.