Los Angeles County, which has seen a whirlwind expansion in medical marijuana dispensaries this year, has notched another marijuana milestone. The county has moved to No. 5 for the amount seized in the state's annual eradication campaign, with 340,187 pot plants uprooted -- more than a fourfold increase. ... State officials put the wholesale value of this year's eradicated marijuana at $17.8 billion. ... Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the ... Marijuana Policy Project, ridiculed the effort. "Let me guess, they set a record number of plant seizures and marijuana has now been eradicated from California?" he quipped. Mirken said the campaign has caused growers to move from private lands into wilderness areas. "This is an annual exercise in futility. Not only does it not do anything meaningful, it actually makes the problem worse," he said. (November 5, 2009)

When Gov. John Lynch vetoed legislation earlier this summer that would have made New Hampshire the 14th state in the nation to legalize marijuana for medical use, one of the reasons cited was that it would place the state in conflict with federal law. ... But when state lawmakers convene at the Statehouse on Wednesday to act on the governor’s veto of this and other bills, the political landscape will have changed quite a bit in the past three months – both in Washington and here in the Granite State. ... So we specifically reach out to [previously opposed lawmakers] today to urge them to reconsider their original votes Wednesday – not just in response to the evolving federal position ... but because it is the right and compassionate thing to do for their constituents stricken with cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV or other debilitating diseases. ... (October 27, 2009)

More than three-quarters of the voters in Los Angeles County want to see medical marijuana dispensaries regulated, rather than prosecuted and forced to close, according to a poll released today by a national organization that supports marijuana legalization. The poll, completed Monday and Tuesday, also found that 74% support the state's medical marijuana law, while 54% want to see marijuana legalized, regulated and taxed. ... "I think the take-home message here is voters in L.A. County overwhelmingly support the state's medical marijuana law. They think dispensaries, properly regulated, can be a part of that, and [L.A. County District Attorney] Cooley's really out of step," said Bruce Mirken, the California-based spokesman for the [Marijuana Policy Project]. (October 22, 2009)

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department told federal prosecutors Monday they shouldn't pursue medical-marijuana users who comply with state laws, a step activists said may encourage more states to partially legalize the drug. A three-page memo from Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, affirming a policy disclosed earlier this year, said it was "unlikely to be an efficient use of limited federal resources" to prosecute "individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regimen." ... Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said issuing formal guidelines "certainly lifts a cloud from the people in states that allow medical marijuana." Mr. Mirken, whose group opposes criminal penalties for pot use, added, "I think in terms of state legislatures and governors, as a policy matter, it gives them a great deal of reassurance" in considering medical-marijuana laws. (October 20, 2009)

Medical marijuana advocates were ecstatic Monday at word that the Obama administration is backing off prosecution efforts in California and 13 other states that allow use of the drug in treating pain and other ailments. But they remained concerned that the new policy announced Monday is still vague and that oversight of marijuana dispensaries remains a hodgepodge of local regulations. ... "It is a significant step," said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in San Francisco. "It is overall the biggest and most positive change in federal policy in medical marijuana in at least 30 years." (October 20, 2009)