Daily Headlines CALIFORNIA MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES CHEER U.S. SHIFT ON RAIDS by Stu Woo, (Source:Wall Street Journal)

More News Select a State See Map Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia FEDERAL Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Check State Laws





Share This Article

California

-------

SAN FRANCISCO -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement that the federal government will no longer raid medical-marijuana dispensaries was cheered by California dealers as well as state legislators who seek to legalize and tax sales of the drug.



Under the Bush administration, the Drug Enforcement Agency raided dispensaries across the country. Such seizures were especially common in California, which in 1996 became the first state to legalize marijuana sales to people with doctor's prescriptions -- in opposition to federal laws banning any use of the drug.



The attorney general signaled recently that states will be able to set their own medical-marijuana laws, which President Barack Obama said during his campaign that he supported. What Mr. Obama said then "is now American policy," Mr. Holder said.



"We may be seeing the end of an era," said Rob MacCoun, a law professor who studies drug policy at the University of California, Berkeley. "It's not likely to be a priority for the Obama administration."



That news relieved Kevin Reed, who owns the Green Cross, a medical-marijuana-delivery service in San Francisco. He said he wasn't too concerned about raids because they usually target large dispensaries that "get out of control" with high traffic and cash flow. But federal seizures were constantly "in the back of your head," Mr. Reed said.



Mr. MacCoun said the Obama administration's stance may help to legitimize a "quasi-legal" marijuana culture in California. The state has as many as 200,000 medical-marijuana users, the most out of the 13 states that allow such use of the drug.



The state law doesn't specify for what ailments the drug can be prescribed. Californians who seek out certain doctors can easily obtain a prescription for marijuana use; some high-school students do this as soon as they turn 18.



Mr. Holder's announcement also was praised by backers of a proposal to legalize sales of marijuana for recreational use in California. Democrat Tom Ammiano, an assemblyman from San Francisco, introduced the bill, which proposes regulating the drug like alcohol, allowing its sales to people ages 21 and older. "This is a significant step," Mr. Ammiano said. "There's a lot of support for the bill, and the context of the conversation is going to change."



Mr. Ammiano's office has estimated that marijuana is a $14 billion crop in California. Taxing the drug $50 an ounce, it said, would generate more than $1 billion annually for a cash-strapped state that closed a $42 billion budget deficit just last month.



The proposal faces opposition from police groups and other state legislators. "Legalizing marijuana would be a horrible thing to do to our communities," said Jeff Miller, a Republican assemblyman from Corona. "It would be the springboard for other problems, and that's just not the right thing to do for our children."



The federal government may also challenge the bill if it passes. "No one should assume that just because the Obama administration is tolerant of medical marijuana, that they'll be as tolerant of recreational marijuana," said Mr. MacCoun, the Berkeley professor.



Thad Kousser, a political-science professor at the University of California, San Diego, said he thinks the proposal won't get that far, calling it a "press release" meant to spark debate. The professor's prediction: "The bill's going to go up in smoke."





MAP posted-by: Richard Lake









Share This Article

Pubdate: Mon, 9 Mar 2009

Source: Wall Street Journal (US)

Copyright: 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Contact: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com

Website: http://www.wsj.com/

Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487

Authors: Stu Woo and Justin Scheck

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Marijuana - California)

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Attorney+General+Eric+Holder