Medical pot backers say L.A. raids betray Obama vow

Stephen Gutwillig, California head of the Drug Policy Alliance, suggested the latest raids stemmed from a lag in new policy directives from the 2-week-old Obama administration.

'SHOULDN'T NEED A MEMO'

"We hope these recent raids don't represent official administration policy and that Obama will order federal agencies in no uncertain terms to stop harassing medical marijuana patients and providers in California," he said.

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro on Wednesday reiterated Obama's stance that "federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws."

"And as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," Shapiro said.

Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance in Washington said, "The DEA shouldn't need a memo from the White House to know that undermining the will of California voters is a waste of taxpayer money."

Twelve states have enacted medical marijuana statutes since California became the first to do so in 1996.

But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 the federal government may continue to enforce U.S. law barring the cultivation, possession and use of cannabis for any purpose, even where states seek to legalize it for medical reasons.

Medical marijuana vendors have continued to operate despite hundreds of DEA raids on such establishments in recent years, most of them in California, under former President George W. Bush's administration, according to Caren Woodson of Americans for Safe Access.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)