NO DOPE

Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana picked a fight with Edwards last week.

During and after Edwards's first town hall meeting in Concord, he fielded
questions from Aaron Houston, campaign coordinator for the group. On his
way out the door, Houston asked whether Edwards would support continued
Drug Enforcement Agency raids in states like California, where marijuana is
legal for medical use. Houston told the senator the department was jailing
cancer and AIDS patients who use the drug for pain relief and agents were
holding guns to the heads of clinic patients. (Federal law prohibits
marijuana use, but state laws vary.)

Edwards successfully dodged most of Houston's questions - Houston actually
followed him out of the room seeking an answer - and told him to contact
his Senate office for follow-up.

Edwards did say a commission should be established to study medicinal
marijuana use. He also told Houston he hadn't heard about any violent raids.

"Sen. Edwards was unfamiliar with the raids this activist was referring to,
and he told him exactly that," said Colin Van Ostern, Edwards's New
Hampshire spokesman.

Houston subsequently issued a release saying Edwards did know of about the
raids. He cited a May 29 San Francisco Chronicle article in which Edwards
said: "It's the job of the Justice Department to enforce the law as it
currently exists."

Asked what Edwards meant by the remark, if he knew about the raids or
supported the feds making arrests in states where the drug is legal, Van
Ostern said: "I think the quote stands for itself."