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Medical marijuana meeting turns into shouting match
01.08.07|TheDesertSun.com

What was supposed to be a routine update on medical marijuana to the Coachella Valley Association of Governments’ Public Safety Committee turned out to be an explosive confrontation between medical marijuana supporters and the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The discussion, which became a shouting match, left local supporters and city officials with many major questions unanswered.

Tom O’Brien, chief of the criminal division out of the Los Angeles office of the U.S. Attorney, would not speculate on many of the hypothetical and real-life scenarios brought up in the meeting today.

He maintained that the federal government sees any use or sale of medical marijuana as a crime and that federal law authorities would see people involved in that crime – including cities that allow it – as potentially aiding and abetting in the crime.

He would not go so far as to say whether any city would be prosecuted.