Medical Marijuana Advocates Breathing Easier

Kansas City

After California legalized medical marijuana, Charles Lynch opened his cannabis dispensary nearly two years ago in Morro Bay, getting a license from the city and joining the chamber of commerce. Even the mayor showed up for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

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 Monday 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.

However, the nation's medical marijuana users are breathing a little more easily these days, confident that such stories soon will be a thing of the past.

At news conferences last month and again last Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder 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.

Medical marijuana advocates predict that the issue soon will leave the public realm of politics and become a private issue between doctors and patients. They also said that President Barack Obama had kept a promise that he made on the campaign trail last year.