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WEEDING OUT UNFAIRNESS

CITY AFFAIRS: The Courts Should Side With Oakland in Its Challenge Against the Federal Government's Crackdown on Medical Marijuana.

Oakland deserves to win its bold challenge to the federal government that authorities should not shut down medical marijuana dispensaries operating in full compliance with state law.

Due to a crackdown on medical marijuana initiated by the U.S.  Department of Justice last year, many California dispensaries face the possibility of a raid.  But now, Oakland is suing federal authorities, including Attorney General Eric Holder, due to "ongoing and threatened attempts" by the department to shut down a major dispensary, despite the fact that it operates in compliance with city and state regulations, according to the lawsuit.

The department's actions place the state and federal governments at odds with each other, and the courts now have the opportunity to put the issue to rest.  If Harborside Health Center, the dispensary named in the lawsuit, truly is in full compliance with California law, it must not be shut down.  The court should side with Oakland and end the federal crackdown.

Furthermore, the crackdown reflects a discouraging broken promise from President Barack Obama.  In 2008, then-candidate Obama said he would not be "using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws" about medical marijuana.  Yet four years later, that's exactly what happened.

The crackdown also raises a concern about priorities.  Is medical marijuana really something the Department of Justice needs to be meddling with, given the many other more serious drug-related offenses that occur? Many seriously ill people rely on medical marijuana - they should not live in fear of their dispensaries getting raided.  Neither should the dispensaries themselves - like other businesses, they support the state economy and will be able to do so with more ease if fears of being raided are relieved.

This should be a nonissue, but if nothing else, the lawsuit will resonate with other cities and states suffering from the crackdown, proving that the medical marijuana industry will not be curtailed without a fight.