Pubdate: Mon, 23 Mar 2009
Source: Bakersfield Californian, The (CA)
Copyright: 2009 The Bakersfield Californian
Contact:  http://www.bakersfield.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/36

RE-LEGALIZING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Whether we accept the presumed benefits of medical marijuana as 
legitimate or not, Californians should at least be grateful that 
state and federal laws will no longer be in conflict when it comes to 
enforcement.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder says the U.S. will undertake a shift 
in federal drug laws relative to medical marijuana, widely believed 
to ease symptoms in cancer patients and sufferers of a wide array of 
other maladies.

That means raids on medical marijuana distributors licensed in 
California will cease or be greatly reduced.

In 1996, California became the first state to legalize the sale of 
cannabis to people with doctors' prescriptions. Many patients say 
they've been helped, but dueling jurisdictional interests have caused 
headaches for everyone concerned, especially for local law 
enforcement authorities bound by contradictory mandates.

The new administration's approach to the problem seems to come too 
late for eight people arrested in July 2007 at Bakersfield's Nature's 
Medicinal Inc., which had been operating at 323 Roberts Lane. The 
dispensary's co-owners, David Chavez Sr. and David Chavez Jr., face 
hearings this month in U.S. District Court in Fresno, as do other 
dispensary employees.

Several pot dispensaries in Bakersfield closed in the wake of the 
2007 crackdown by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. The DEA was 
working in concert with the Kern County Sheriff's Department, which 
issued marijuana dispensary licenses to the very same businesses it 
helped close.

The Obama administration's decision does not guarantee smooth 
sailing. On the contrary, it creates another set of challenges as law 
enforcement and other licensing agencies brace for the task of 
separating legitimate users from those without a recognized medical 
need. The decision also puts the ball into the court of medical 
licensing boards, which must help guide "pot doctors" out of the 
realm of perceived quackery and into the light of tightly regulated legitimacy.

We're a long way from fully understanding the practical applications 
of medical marijuana. This latest step clarifies the picture by 
getting the feds out of the game and leaving states to come up with 
consistent approaches. It's up to leaders from the medical community 
and law enforcement to take things from here, with compassion and 
consistency two of the key objectives.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart