A federal judge in California has ruled Ashcroft & Co. cannot prosecute medical marijuana clubs that provide pot to sick patients:

A judge on Wednesday ordered the federal government not to raid or prosecute a California group that grows and distributes marijuana for its sick members.The decision from U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose was the first interpretation of an appeals court's December ruling that federal prosecutions of medical marijuana users are unconstitutional if the pot isn't sold, transported across state lines or used for non-medicinal purposes. Nine states, including California, allow medical marijuana use, but the Justice Department contends that federal drug laws take precedence.

Fogel ruled that the federal government cannot raid or prosecute the 250 members of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, which sued the government after the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2002 raided its Santa Cruz County growing operation and seized 167 marijuana plants....The marijuana group asked Fogel to issue the injunction after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December ordered the federal government not to prosecute a sick Oakland woman who smoked marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. A 1996 California law allows people to grow, smoke or obtain marijuana for medical needs with a doctor's recommendation.

States with similar laws: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. All except Colorado and Maine are in the 9th Circuit.