STUDY: POLICE REACTIONS TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA MIXED

WASHINGTON -(AP)- 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 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 four counties and no statewide data 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 said, and some were concerned about conflicts that arise with federal
law enforcement, which still bans 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. The state 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 the review of the report.

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

Data from the three states that require registries -- Oregon, Hawaii and
Alaska -- showed that over 70 percent of medicinal marijuana users from each
state were at least 40 years old.

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.