Feds Crack Down on California Pot Operations

The federal Drug Enforcement Agency is stepping up raids on California's medicinal marijuana distributors, confiscating drugs and arresting vendors at ten Los Angeles operations last month alone, Reuters reports. California legalized medicinal marijuana use more than ten years ago, but possession of the drug violates federal law. Federal officials argue that a legal alternative, a pill called Marinol, works as well, but users disagree.

Marijuana dispensaries defend their screening processes, noting that a doctor's prescription is necessary to legally purchase marijuana in the state. An estimated 200,000 Californians use medicinal marijuana. If the DEA shuts down distributors, "people would just have to go back to the street," said one pot vendor. (More prescription drugs stories.)