U.S. SHOULDN'T BUST LEGAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA SITES

With a real war going on against terrorism, federal law enforcement
officials should call off the one they're waging against medical marijuana
users. Instead, they've gone on the offensive.

Last week, about two dozen Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided
the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center in West Hollywood, one of
California's largest suppliers of medical marijuana. The raid followed
months of surveillance, tips from confidential informants and fly-overs of
one of the center's marijuana gardens in Ventura County where 342 plants
were seized.

In West Hollywood, agents took medical files, computers, gardening
equipment and bank records in addition to marijuana plants. No criminal
charges have been filed, but the center is out of business.

Medical marijuana is legal in California. It has been since 1996. Seven
other states also have laws allowing sick people legal access to marijuana
prescribed by their doctors. In a strange twist, Nevada officials have
asked the federal government to supply it with marijuana because the
statute there requires the state to ensure patients legal access to the drug.

But while medical marijuana is legal in California and elsewhere, it is a
federal felony to cultivate, possess or distribute the drug. And the
Supreme Court ruled in May that marijuana has no currently accepted medical
use. So federal officials have continued the battle. It's a fight the
federal government doesn't need.

The Pew Research Center reported in March that three-quarters of those
polled supported allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for medical
purposes. Most of the Los Angeles center's 960 patients have AIDS. Others
have cancer, glaucoma or multiple sclerosis.

Instead of chasing down the folks who supply them with marijuana, federal
officials should just say no to this misguided campaign.