Pubdate: Thu, 05 Feb 2009
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/A1kAshhc
Website: http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Stephen Dinan and Ben Conery
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

BUSH HOLDOVERS AT DEA CONTINUE POT RAIDS

Drug Enforcement Administration agents this week raided four medical
marijuana shops in California, contrary to President Obama's campaign
promises to stop the raids.

The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama
nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush
administration holdovers.

"The president believes that federal resources should not be used to
circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to
fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review
their policies with that in mind," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

Medical use of marijuana is legal under the law in California and a dozen
other states, but the federal government under President Bush, bolstered by
a 2005 Supreme Court ruling, argued that federal interests trumped state law.

Dogged by marijuana advocates throughout the campaign, Mr. Obama repeatedly
said he was opposed to using the federal government to raid medical
marijuana shops, particularly because it was an infringement on states'
decisions.

"I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to
circumvent state laws on this issue," Mr. Obama told the Mail Tribune
newspaper in Oregon in March, during the Democratic primary campaign.

He told the newspaper the "basic concept of using medical marijuana for the
same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by
doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate."

Mr. Obama is still filling key law enforcement posts. For now, DEA is run
by acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, a Bush appointee.

Special Agent Sarah Pullen of the DEA's Los Angeles office said agents
raided four marijuana dispensaries about noon Tuesday. Two were in Venice
and one each was in Marina Del Rey and Playa Del Ray -- all in the Los
Angeles area.

A man who answered the phone at Marina Caregivers in Marina Del Rey said
his shop was the target of a raid but declined to elaborate, saying the
shop was just trying to get back to operating.

Agent Pullen said the four raids seized $10,000 in cash and 224 kilograms
of marijuana and marijuana-laced food, such as cookies. No one was
arrested, she said, but the raid is part of an ongoing investigation
seeking to trace the marijuana back to its suppliers or source.

She said agents have conducted 30 or 40 similar raids in the past several
years, many of which resulted in prosecutions.

"It's clear that the DEA is showing no respect for President Obama's
campaign promises," said Dan Bernath, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy
Project in Washington, which advocates for medical marijuana and for
decriminalizing the drug.

California allows patients whose doctors prescribe marijuana to use the
drug. The state has set up a registry to allow patients to obtain cards
allowing them to possess, grow, transport and use marijuana.

Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy
group in California, called the raids an attempt to undermine state law and
said they were apparently conducted without the knowledge of Los Angeles
city or police officials.

He said the DEA has raided five medical marijuana dispensaries in the state
since Mr. Obama was inaugurated and that the first took place on Jan. 22 in
South Lake Tahoe.

"President Obama needs to keep a promise he made, not just in one campaign
stop, but in multiple speeches that he would not be spending Justice
Department funds on these kinds of raids," Mr. Hermes said. "We do want to
give him a little bit of leeway, but at the same time we're expecting him
to stop this egregious enforcement policy that is continuing into his
presidency."

He said he is aware that Mr. Obama has not installed his own DEA chief but
that new Attorney General "Eric Holder can still suspend these types of
operations."

The Justice Department referred questions to the White House.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
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---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D


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