Medical marijuana advocates sue prosecutors over crackdown

A medical marijuana advocacy group has sued the U.S. attorney general and the top federal prosecutor in Northern California, asking a federal court to halt recent raids and threats of prosecution that have significantly stepped up the Obama administration’s assault on the state’s 15-year-old program.

Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group based in Oakland, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco that accuses the Obama administration of violating the Constitution’s 10th Amendment by using coercive tactics to interfere with powers that are delegated to the states.

The four U.S. attorneys in California have dramatically ramped up prosecutions against medical marijuana operations and have advised cities and counties that they cannot adopt regulations that, in effect, authorize the distribution of the federally controlled substance.

“They’re not just enforcing marijuana laws, they are doing something extremely unusual in an effort to quash the medical marijuana programs in the various states,” said Joe Elford, chief counsel for Americans for Safe Access. “They’re not allowed to commandeer the lawmaking functions of the state.”

Tracy Schmaler, spokeswoman for U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder, could not be reached for comment. Jack Gillund, spokesman for Melinda Haag, the U.S. attorney for Northern California, said, “We have no comment.”