Pot-Smoking Patients Safe from Feds

Cancer patients should soon feel freer to toke up to ease their pain. The Justice Department is about to issue a new policy on medical marijuana emphasizing to prosecutors that it is a waste of resources to arrest people who use or sell medical marijuana, but who are in strict compliance with state law. Medical marijuana is legal in 14 states. The forthcoming memo represents a change in policy from the Bush administration, which said it would enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state rules. Not all pot-dealers or pot-users are equal, though. The memo urges prosecutors to tackle marijuana cases involving violence, illegal guns, selling pot to children, money laundering, or other crimes.