WHAT ARE DEA BOSSES SMOKING?

Their Enemy Is All-Too Familiar

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 U.S. Supreme Court decision in May
that approval 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?