Pubdate: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 Source: Concord Monitor (NH) Copyright: 2003 Monitor Publishing Company Contact: http://www.cmonitor.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/767 Author: Jennifer Skalka, Lisa Wangsness Cited: Drug Enforcement Administration ( www.dea.gov ) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/John+Edwards Note: Monitor reporter Dan Barrick contributed to this column.) NO DOPE Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana picked a fight with Edwards last week. During and after Edwards's first town hall meeting in Concord, he fielded questions from Aaron Houston, campaign coordinator for the group. On his way out the door, Houston asked whether Edwards would support continued Drug Enforcement Agency raids in states like California, where marijuana is legal for medical use. Houston told the senator the department was jailing cancer and AIDS patients who use the drug for pain relief and agents were holding guns to the heads of clinic patients. (Federal law prohibits marijuana use, but state laws vary.) Edwards successfully dodged most of Houston's questions - Houston actually followed him out of the room seeking an answer - and told him to contact his Senate office for follow-up. Edwards did say a commission should be established to study medicinal marijuana use. He also told Houston he hadn't heard about any violent raids. "Sen. Edwards was unfamiliar with the raids this activist was referring to, and he told him exactly that," said Colin Van Ostern, Edwards's New Hampshire spokesman. Houston subsequently issued a release saying Edwards did know of about the raids. He cited a May 29 San Francisco Chronicle article in which Edwards said: "It's the job of the Justice Department to enforce the law as it currently exists." Asked what Edwards meant by the remark, if he knew about the raids or supported the feds making arrests in states where the drug is legal, Van Ostern said: "I think the quote stands for itself." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens