MEDICAL MARIJUANA'S EFFECT ON CRIME DISCOUNTED

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 yesterday.

The report by the General Accounting Office said 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 were available.

Some law enforcement officials said while crime-fighting was not
harmed, the laws allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana at times have
complicated efforts to seize illegal marijuana or to prosecute some
cases, the GAO report said.

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 0.05 percent of the population in any of the states.

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

The laws create "legal loopholes for drug dealers and marijuana
cultivators to avoid arrest and prosecution," acting Assistant
Attorney General Robert F. Diegelman wrote in a review of the report.