Federal war on medical pot challenged

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, August 21, 2008
A federal judge breathed new life Wednesday into medical marijuana advocates’ effort to ward off the federal crackdown on medical pot in California, saying enforcement of U.S. drug laws can go too far if it seeks to interfere with state authority.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose denied a Bush administration request to dismiss a lawsuit by Santa Cruz city and county officials and members of a medical marijuana collective whose drugs were seized by federal agents in a 2002 raid.
The suit claims federal prosecutors have tried to disrupt the California law by enforcement that targeted critical participants in the state system – doctors who approved their patients’ marijuana use, local officials who issued state-approved identification cards to medical marijuana users, local governments whose zoning allowed pot dispensaries, and marijuana suppliers who cooperated with local governments.
But Fogel said Wednesday that if the plaintiffs can prove all their claims, “they may be able to show that (federal officials) are deliberately seeking to frustrate the state’s ability to determine whether an individual’s use of marijuana is permissible under California law.”
Medical marijuana advocates and their lawyers called the ruling a potential breakthrough.
E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B – 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle

 

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