PINCHED, DEA STILL GOES AFTER POT CLINIC

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 President 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 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?