REPORT: CRIME UNAFFECTED BY LEGAL POT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Law enforcement officials in four of the states that
allow medical use of marijuana say the laws have had minimal impact on
crime-fighting, although they at times complicate prosecution of drug
cases, a congressional report said Friday.

The report by the General Accounting Office said 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 data was available.

Some law enforcement officials said that while crime-fighting 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.

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.