AGENCY EXAMINES MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS

Police Report 'General Softening' In Public's Attitude, Study Finds

WASHINGTON -- Law enforcement officials in four of the states that allow
medical use of marijuana say the laws have had minimal impact on
crimefighting, although they at times complicate prosecution of drug cases,
a congressional report said Friday. The report by the General Accounting
Office stated that only a small fraction of the people in Oregon, Hawaii
and Alaska used marijuana for medical purposes. The results in California,
the fourth state studied, were limited to only four counties and no
statewide figures were available.

Some law enforcement officials said that while crimefighting was not
harmed, the laws allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana at times has
complicated efforts to seize illegal marijuana or to prosecute some cases,
according to the GAO report.

In some cases, law enforcement officials said the marijuana laws resulted
in "a general softening" in attitudes among the public toward marijuana,
the report stated, and some were concerned about conflicts that arise with
federal laws banning the drug.

The GAO examined only four of the eight states that have allowed medical
uses for marijuana. The other states are Nevada, Colorado, Washington and
Maine.

The GAO found that a total of about 2,450 people in Oregon, Hawaii and
Alaska use marijuana for medical purposes -- accounting for no more than
.05 percent of the population in any of the states.

The report provided no statewide data for California. That state's law does
not require medicinal marijuana users to register, although about 4,500
people have done so voluntarily in four of the state's 58 counties,
according to the GAO.

In Northern California, Humboldt County officials said marijuana growers
are allowed to grow hundreds of plants while claiming to be a medical
caregiver to multiple patients, and no documentation is required.

Some local law enforcement officials in California questioned how
effectively they could prosecute criminal marijuana cases, since the state
has no limit on the amount of marijuana that can be held by a patient or a
caregiver.

While the other three states have established limits, some law enforcement
officials said they, too, were less likely to pursue cases that could be
shielded by the provisions.

The Bush administration disagreed with some of the report's findings.

The state marijuana laws have resulted in a "worsening of relations between
federal, state and local law enforcement," acting Assistant Attorney
General Robert F. Diegelman wrote in the report's review.

The laws create "legal loopholes for drug dealers and marijuana cultivators
to avoid arrest and prosecution," he said.

In Hawaii and Oregon, where information on gender was kept, about 70
percent of users in each state were male, according to the report.

Both states also showed most of their patients were taking marijuana to
treat severe pain and persistent muscle spasms. Such information was not
available for Alaska or California.

The GAO conducted its study from September 2001 to June 2002.