[420 Girl]

Dozens of protesters Thursday urged the Obama administration to end federal raids of medical marijuana dispensaries that they say amount to seizing medicine from the sick.

The Drug Enforcement Administration raided four dispensaries in the city this week and seized 500 pounds of marijuana, bringing fresh attention to the rift between state and federal laws on medical marijuana use. President Barack Obama said during the campaign he would not use the Justice Department, which oversees DEA, to circumvent laws in California and other states that permit the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

"Somebody forgot to tell them all the rules are changing," Don Duncan of Americans for Safe Access, which promotes medical marijuana use and research, told the crowd.

The demonstrators outside a downtown federal office building chanted "Obama stop the raids" and "DEA go away."

James Shaw of the Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, an advocacy group for patients, accused the DEA of "grabbing as much money and medicine as they can" before any change in federal policy.

Thirteen states have laws permitting medicinal use of marijuana, but the federal government has not recognized those laws. "Anyone possessing, distributing or cultivating marijuana for any reason is in violation of federal law," said Sarah Pullen, a spokeswoman for the DEA in Los Angeles.

Obama has promised a change in direction.

"I think the basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate," Obama told the Mail Tribune of Medford, Ore., in March. "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue."

Pullen directed questions on medical marijuana policy to the Justice Department in Washington. On Thursday, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said "the president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws. As he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind."

Outside the federal building, protester Sarah Armstrong said she thinks marijuana should be illegal, but not when it comes to people in pain. The 55-year-old retired paralegal uses medical marijuana to ease the symptoms of arthritis that nearly forced her to stop driving.

"I think it's medicine, not a party," she said.

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