STATE VS. FEDS IN POT LAWS

Under normal circumstances, there would be no question about supporting the
federal government in its crackdown on marijuana offenders in California.
After all, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that distribution
of the weed through cooperatives is illegal.

But the latest wave of federal arrests has clashed with Califonia law,
which allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and we have to
wonder what's really going on, why the sudden outburst of enforcement.

Caught in the federal-state crossfire is the city of West Hollywood,
amongst others. A cannabis club there was raided, to the dismay of more
than 900 individuals who were treated for illnesses like cancer and AIDS by
doctors acting with the approval of city officials.

A West Hollywood councilman bitterly accused the feds of "forcing sick
people to become criminals." In the small community of Cool, northeast of
Sacramento, federal agents seized a marijuana garden planted by patients
and seized the files of a doctor and a lawyer who had recommended the drug
for thousands of sick patients.

The project even had the approval of the California Medical Association,
prompting a spokesman to complain that law enforcement authorities "had no
business interfering with the doctor-patient relationship."

When California approved using marijuana for medical purposes, The Tribune
voiced uneasiness that the law would be administered improperly. We feared
there would be too many instances where doctors might be too permissive.

But the experience has demonstrated that hundreds of sick men and women in
the state have been helped under medical supervision and for some time
the marijuana front in California has been quiet.

It was, that is, until the feds went into action.

The law is the law. But there is federal law, and there is state law, and
it seems that some kind of compromise might well have been worked out, so
that doctors and legitimate patients would not be thwarted.

Marijuana cooperatives may not be the answer. But strong-arm tactics aren't
the answer, either.