Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 2009
Source: New York Times (NY)
Page: A20
Copyright: 2009 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: David Johnston and Neil A. Lewis
Cited: American Civil Liberties Union drug law project 
http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/index.html
Cited: Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicy.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO STOP RAIDS ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSERS

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday 
outlined a shift in the enforcement of federal drug laws, saying the 
administration would effectively end the Bush administration's 
frequent raids on distributors of medical marijuana.

Speaking with reporters, Mr. Holder provided few specifics but said 
the Justice Department's enforcement policy would now be restricted 
to traffickers who falsely masqueraded as medical dispensaries and 
"use medical marijuana laws as a shield."

In the Bush administration, federal agents raided medical marijuana 
distributors that violated federal statutes even if the dispensaries 
appeared to be complying with state laws. The raids produced a flood 
of complaints, particularly in California, which in 1996 became the 
first state to legalize marijuana sales to people with doctors' prescriptions.

Graham Boyd, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union drug 
law project, said Mr. Holder's remarks created a reasonable balance 
between conflicting state and federal laws and "seem to finally end 
the policy war over medical marijuana." He said officials in 
California and the 12 other states that have authorized the use of 
medical marijuana had hesitated to adopt regulations to carry out 
their laws because of uncertainty created by the Bush administration.

Mr. Holder said the new approach was consistent with statements made 
by President Obama in the campaign and was based on an assessment of 
how to allocate scarce enforcement resources. He said dispensaries 
operating in accord with California law would not be a priority for 
the administration.

Mr. Holder's comments appeared to be an effort to clarify the policy 
after some news reports last month interpreted his answer to a 
reporter's question to be a flat assertion that all raids on 
marijuana growers would cease. Department officials said Mr. Holder 
had not intended to assert any policy change last month but was 
decidedly doing so on Wednesday.

Ethan Nadelmann, the founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, said Mr. 
Holder was telling the Drug Enforcement Administration that it should 
leave legitimate growers of medical marijuana untouched. "The message 
from the Bush Justice Department was 'watch out -- we have the 
authority to go after everybody,' " he said.

On other matters, in his first wide-ranging conversation with 
reporters as attorney general, Mr. Holder said the Justice Department 
was still reviewing the case files of detainees held at Guantanamo 
Bay, Cuba, to determine whether they could be released or would be 
tried in a civilian criminal court or some other legal forum. He said 
it was possible that some detainees like the Uighurs held in Cuba 
could be released into the United States.

He also said the department was "monitoring" developments related to 
accusations of abuse of detainees by the Central Intelligence Agency, 
but stopped short of endorsing the appointment of a special 
prosecutor. "We will let the law and facts take us to wherever we 
need to go," he said.

Mr. Holder said the department should be open to preserving a healthy 
newspaper industry. He said he would consider adjusting enforcement 
of antitrust statutes if that would help news organizations develop 
collective distribution systems. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake