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SAN FRANCISCO -- A decade ago, California voters were the nation's first to approve medical marijuana, and 10 other states have since followed suit. But the future of the landmark California statute is no clearer now than when voters headed to the polls Nov. 5, 1996. The federal government still refuses to recognize Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act approved by 56 percent of voters. And U.S. authorities under both the Clinton and Bush administrations have won nearly every major legal battle over the measure. "We refer to it as marijuana, not medical marijuana, regardless of its reported destination or use," said Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Casey McEnry, noting that marijuana is an illegal controlled substance under federal law. The government's war on drugs has also prompted a civil war of sorts within California: three of the state's 58 counties, headed by San Diego County, claim in a lawsuit filed in state court that the measure is illegal. A hearing is set for Nov. 16 in the lawsuit, which threatens to derail the state's legal tolerance for the medicinal use of a drug that federal law places in the same category as heroin, cocaine and LSD. A victory for those renegade counties might also set legal precedent undermining medical marijuana laws in other states with such laws -- Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Voters in South Dakota will consider a medical marijuana measure on Tuesday. "The state cannot authorize somebody to do something that breaks federal law," said Thomas Bunton, senior deputy counsel for San Diego County. Medical marijuana is used by thousands of people suffering from AIDS, cancer, anorexia, chronic pain, arthritis, migraines and other illnesses, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. The nation's medical marijuana laws generally allow those with a doctor's recommendation to grow or possess small amounts of the drug. In 1999, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences expressed concern about the risks of smoking marijuana, but acknowledged in a report that "there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana, such as pain or AIDS wasting." Later research suggests it might reduce tumor proliferation and a study this year by the University of California, San Francisco showed marijuana "may offer significant benefit" to those suffering from hepatitis C. The Food and Drug Administration does not recognize marijuana as having medical benefits. California is the epicenter of the federal-state medical marijuana battle. Communities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and West Hollywood have authorized storefront medical marijuana dispensaries. But medical marijuana stores have met with resistance in the South Bay. On Thursday, a Torrance pot dispensary was shut down by the city. Police had revoked the business license of the Green Cross two days earlier because the police chief declared the establishment a detriment to public health and safety. Last month federal agents raided the dispensary and seized roughly 70 pounds of pot, nearly 100 marijuana plants, a shotgun and a small amount of cash. Other local cities -- including Torrance -- to recently pass temporary or permanent bans on so-called co-ops include Gardena, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Lawndale, Lomita, Rancho Palos Verdes and Redondo Beach. Proposition 215 does not expressly allow dispensaries, but Americans for Safe Access, a pro-marijuana lobbying group, estimates there are about 200 operating in California. For many backers of the law, it's an imperfect way for patients to get pot. "I thought we would have had more of a standardized distribution system by now," said William Panser, an Oakland criminal defense lawyer who was among the handful of attorneys who crafted the proposition. Federal agents have raided more than two dozen California dispensaries over the past decade, according to Americans for Safe Access. Some communities are now assisting in the crackdown, including San Diego, which recently shut down 13 of them. A dozen dispensaries found on the Internet and contacted by The Associated Press declined comment or did not return messages. William Dolphin, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, said dispensaries are also operating secretly in other states, even though they are illegal. "I know they are operating in Oregon, Washington and Colorado. It's underground," he said. "The dispensary issue is a fascinating study in sociology," Panser said. "It's like the speed limit, and everybody is breaking the law but it's being tolerated." Nowhere is medical marijuana more accepted than in San Francisco, birthplace of the movement. The city's top prosecutor, Kamala Harris, steadfastly supports Proposition 215. "Sick people using medical marijuana as it relates to Proposition 215 are not criminals and will not be prosecuted," she said. But she acknowledged that a handful of San Francisco dispensaries raided by federal agents "were out of control" because they were selling pot to customers without a doctor's recommendation. |
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