U.S. won’t prosecute medical marijuana

After California legalized medical marijuana, Charles Lynch opened a cannabis dispensary nearly two years ago in Morro Bay, getting a license from the city and joining the chamber of commerce.

A year later, U.S. drug enforcement agents raided his business. Now Lynch is worried that he'll get at least five years in prison when he's sentenced tomorrow in federal court in Los Angeles on five counts of distributing marijuana.

Whatever happens, Lynch said, he'll appeal. "I don't feel like I deserve going through life as a convicted felon for doing things the state of California allowed me to do," he said.

Attorney General Eric Holder has said that there would be no more federal prosecutions of cases involving medical cannabis dispensaries. He said they would be left alone as long as they were complying with state laws.

Holder said that his department will focus on people and organizations growing or cultivating "substantial amounts of marijuana and doing so in a way that's inconsistent with federal law and state law."

The decision affects California and 12 other states that have legalized marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington state.

It's not seen by many as a move by the Obama administration toward the legalization of marijuana. However, it could end much of the confusion among state and federal authorities dealing with the mishmash of laws in which cultivating, using and selling pot for medical purposes is allowed by states but outlawed by the federal government.

Federal authorities charged that Lynch, 46, used his business, the Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers marijuana store, as a front for a supersized retail drug-dealing center that sold more than $2.1 million in marijuana over a year. The customers included 281 minors, authorities said. A local doctor also was indicted, accused of writing marijuana recommendations for minors without conducting any physical evaluations.

Over the past 2½ years, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has raided at least 80 dispensaries in California.

Yet criminal charges have been filed only in several of those cases against the biggest distributors accused of breaking both federal and state laws, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in the Central District of California.