Showdown over medical marijuana may be coming

State and federal officials may be headed to a showdown over New Mexico’s new law that legalizes marijuana for medical use, which is contrary to federal laws on possession and distribution of the drug.

On Tuesday, members of a regional drug task force that works with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration put out a news release after seizing marijuana plants from the southeastern New Mexico home of a wheelchair-bound man who was licensed by the state to possess and smoke marijuana. The news release states that “federal charges are expected.”

“Citizens of New Mexico need to be aware that they can still be prosecuted on the federal level even though New Mexico has a law permitting marijuana for medical use,” the release states.

Agents didn’t have a search warrant, and were actually allowed by Leonard French to enter his home in Eddy County, the Albuquerque Journal reported, because he thought he was doing nothing wrong.

French, one of 38 New Mexicans approved so far for the new state program, lost use of his legs 20 years ago in a motorcycle accident and suffers from chronic pain and muscle spasms, the Journal reported.

“I’m kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place,” French told Albuquerque television station KOB-TV. “It makes me feel like the state says, ‘Here you go. Here’s your license to drive,’ and the first time I left the driveway, they took my car away.”

The new law took effect July 1. Several weeks later, the state attorney general cautioned that he can’t legally defend state employees against criminal charges if the federal government goes after them for producing and distributing marijuana, which the state’s new law called for them to do.

Then Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration announced it would continue to issue permits for possession and smoking of marijuana for medical reasons, but would not produce or distribute the drug for the time being. Richardson sent a letter to President Bush stating that, “At a time when the scourge of meth is coming across the border, and cocaine and heroin use continues to ravage our communities, the federal government should be cracking down on real criminals – not people who are trying to help those in pain.”

He urged Bush to “leave a legacy of compassion by adding an exemption in federal law for states that enact medical marijuana and be an ally instead of an adversary in assisting critically ill people.”

Richardson also directed the state to continue planning to produce and distribute the drug “once the legal hurdles, imposed by the federal government, are cleared,” a news release stated.

All was quiet until Tuesday’s events. Agents apparently didn’t know French had a state permit for the plants that were seized until after they took them, but issued the news release after learning about the permit.

Interestingly, the federal government does have its own medical marijuana research program. It was started in 1968, and began giving marijuana to patients in 1978. At its height, the program had about two dozen patients, but the federal government stopped accepting new applications under the previous President Bush, and there are now five patients enrolled. When they die, the federal government will likely end the program.

It’s also notable that, in the handful of other states where medical marijuana is legal, the federal government hasn’t pushed the issue with criminal charges.

But the threat made Tuesday looms large in New Mexico. In the fight that’s brewing, the Albuquerque Tribune sided with the governor in a recent editorial, calling it “criminal” that “sick New Mexicans remain collateral damage” in the war on drugs.

I’m guessing French would agree.