MARIJUANA RAID IS WRONG PRIORITY

Washington - Asa Hutchinson, the former Republican representative from
Arkansas now serving as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration,
has a reputation as a straight shooter. When he was up for
confirmation a few months ago, even Democrats who had strongly opposed
his views as a manager of the impeachment proceedings against Bill
Clinton testified in support of his nomination.

The other morning, Hutchinson was the guest at one of the breakfast
interviews arranged by Godfrey Sperling Jr. of The Christian Science
Monitor. Asked what the events of Sept. 11 had done to the war on
drugs, Hutchinson readily admitted that the diversion of government
resources to the anti-terrorism campaign had left his agency stretched
thin.

A significant number of FBI agents who had been working drug cases
have been pulled off to assist in the dragnet for suspected
terrorists, he said. Coast Guard vessels that had been patrolling the
Caribbean to intercept drug smugglers are now protecting harbors.
Customs agents are focusing on bioterrorism.

Hutchinson assured reporters that he agreed with the new priorities,
but acknowledged that the DEA is struggling to "pick up the slack."

All of which makes it very strange, in my view, that on Oct. 25 about
30 DEA agents spent six hours in a raid on the Los Angeles Cannabis
Resource Center, a source of marijuana for patients with doctors'
prescriptions for its use as a painkiller.

There was nothing illegal about the raid. The agents had a search
warrant signed by a visiting federal judge from Florida. Scott Imler,
the president of the center, told me the agents "were very polite.
They did not pull guns or put anyone on the floor or handcuff anyone,
or physically or verbally abuse anyone. They just gathered us together
and went about collecting stuff."

They took marijuana plants, processed marijuana, 3,000 medical records
and all the business documents on the site. The next day, Imler said,
they seized the organization's bank accounts, effectively shutting
down its normal operations.

In turn, Imler and his staff did not try to conceal anything; in fact,
they opened the safe and allowed the agents to take away the contents.
This was no clandestine operation.

Five years ago, when California voters overwhelmingly approved a
medical marijuana initiative financed by George Soros and two other
multimillionaires, the Los Angeles County sheriff, Sherman Block, and
officials of West Hollywood encouraged Imler and his associates to set
up operations, even finding them a building they could use.

John Duran, the center's attorney and a city councilman, said the
organization has worked hand-in-glove with local officials, acceding
to their requests that patients' status be verified every three months
and that they carry identity cards attesting to their eligibility for
marijuana possession.

"We've had nothing to hide for five years," Duran said. Indeed, DEA
agents visited the center on Sept. 17 and were given a tour of the
premises and a full explanation of its operations.

The authority for the raid rests on a Supreme Court decision last May
that the passage of medical marijuana initiatives in California and
seven other states does not override federal law classifying marijuana
as an illegal drug.

The question raised by Imler, Duran, civil liberties attorneys and
even some conservative editorial pages is why such a raid would
command the resources of the DEA at a time when it is clearly being
stretched to the limits.

When I asked Hutchinson, he replied that carrying out the federal
marijuana ban "is our responsibility, but not a high priority." He
acknowledged that he prefers to work with elected officials and local
law enforcement, rather than opposing them, as in this case, but said
that "when there is a gap" between state and federal law, his job is
to enforce the congressional statutes.

That answer does not satisfy local officials. At the time of the raid,
960 people - most of them with AIDS, the rest with cancer, Lou
Gehrig's disease and other serious illnesses - were alleviating pain
and nausea with marijuana from Imler's center. No arrest warrants have
been issued since the raid, and a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's
office told me it will be "some time" before any prosecutions are
decided. But the center has closed its dispensary because, as Imler
said, "we do not want to distribute black market products." Now, Duran
added, "we have 960 patients out in the parks, looking for drug
dealers to get their marijuana, which is exactly what the city didn't
want."

No one has alleged - let alone proved - that anyone obtained marijuana
without a medical prescription. Why in the world is the Bush
administration fighting this battle, when there are so many more
important wars to be won?