Pubdate: Fri, 04 May 2012
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Bob Egelko

PELOSI RIPS CRACKDOWN ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has joined critics of the Obama 
administration's campaign against medical marijuana suppliers in 
California, saying the government is endangering patients and 
undermining its own proclaimed policy of deferring to states on the issue.

"I have strong concerns about the recent actions by the federal 
government that threaten the safe access of medical marijuana to 
alleviate the suffering of patients in California," the San Francisco 
congresswoman said in a statement Wednesday.

It was Pelosi's first public criticism of the actions announced in 
October by U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag of San Francisco and federal 
prosecutors in the state's other three regions to crack down on 
marijuana dispensaries by going after their landlords.

The prosecutors accused pot suppliers of using California's 1996 
medical marijuana law as a cover for making huge profits. They said 
they would notify dispensaries' landlords that they were violating 
federal drug laws and could lose their property or face criminal prosecution.

Since then, about 300 marijuana dispensaries in California have shut 
down because of fears of prosecution or eviction, including five in 
San Francisco, said Kris Hermes, spokesman for the advocacy group 
Americans for Safe Access. He said more than 1,000 medical marijuana 
suppliers are still operating.

Critics of the policy accuse President Obama of breaking a campaign 
pledge not to interfere with states' enforcement of their medical 
marijuana laws, and a 2009 Justice Department memo discouraging 
federal prosecutors from charging people who were complying with state laws.

Obama, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine published April 
25, said he had promised only not to "prioritize" prosecutions of 
medical marijuana patients, none of whom have been prosecuted.

"I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte 
blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana," he 
said. "I can't ask the Justice Department to say (to federal 
prosecutors), 'Ignore completely a federal law that's on the books.'

"What I can say is, 'Use your prosecutorial discretion and properly 
prioritize your resources to go after things that are really doing 
folks damage.' "

But Pelosi, in her statement, said the administration's actions were 
hurting seriously ill patients.

"I have long supported efforts in Congress to advocate federal 
policies that recognize the scientific evidence and clinical research 
demonstrating the medical benefits of medicinal marijuana (and) that 
respects the wishes of the states in providing relief to ill 
individuals," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom