OAKSTERDAM university, a self-proclaimed “cannabis college” in Oakland, California, has been called everything from “the Princeton of Pot” to “the Harvard of Hemp”. Its founder, Richard Lee, has become the public face of the movement to legitimise marijuana. A paraplegic, he uses the drug for medical purposes, which is legal in California and 15 other states and in the District of Columbia. He also runs a dispensary for medical marijuana and sponsored a 2010 ballot measure in California to legalise marijuana completely in small amounts, whether medicinal or recreational. That measure failed narrowly, but the idea of legalization continues to win converts.
奥克斯特丹大学自称是加利福尼亚州奥克兰市的“大麻学院”，也先后被人称为“大麻罐的普林斯顿大学”和“大麻的哈佛大学”。它的创始人理查德•李在大麻合法化运动中已经是公众最耳熟能详的人。他是个截瘫患者，需要用大麻来治疗，这在加利福尼亚和其余15州，以及哥伦比亚特区是合法的。他同时也经营着一所药用大麻的药店，2010年在加利福尼亚州还发起了小剂量使用大麻合法化的投票统计运动，不管是用于医学还是娱乐活动。这次统计几乎失败，但大麻合法化的观念却继续赢得支持，人们纷纷改变立场。
Now, however, Mr Lee is busted, harassed and in danger of federal prosecution. This month, armed federal agents stormed into his house and offices to confiscate plants and documents. Mr Lee now says that, indicted or not, he plans to get out of his marijuana-related businesses.
然而现在理查德•李被逮捕了，还遭受了袭击，更面临着被联邦起诉的危险。就在这个月全副武装的联邦特工闯入他的房子和办公室，封掉了工厂，收缴了文件。不论是否会起诉自己，李说现在他都打算不再从事与大麻相关的生意。
The raids on his properties are only the most telegenic instances of a much wider federal crackdown that has taken states and counties by surprise. Dispensaries and even landlords of dispensary-operators, all over California, Colorado and Montana have been getting menacing letters. Many have closed shop. Growers and users are by turns livid and scared. Some have protested. Others have ducked back into the black market, as in the old days before medical marijuana was allowed.
查封理查德•李德财产是联邦政府日益扩大的禁麻行动中最引人注目的做法，各州和市对这样的行动感到奇怪。遍布于加利福尼亚、科罗伦多和蒙太纳诸州的药店，甚至是药房的房东都收到了恐吓信。很多药店主关掉了药店。大麻种植者和使用者怒气冲冲后变得恐惧起来。有一些人抗议，而另一些人则转向大麻的地下市场，如同回到了药用大麻未被允许合法使用的岁月。
The question is why the federal government is doing this. On the one hand there is a federal law, the Controlled Substances Act, which recognises no exception for medical marijuana and thus considers all use and trade of it criminal. But on the other hand the Obama administration originally signalled that it would not deliberately clash with the states about weed. In the so-called Ogden memo of 2009, the Justice Department advised its lawyers to leave small-beer marijuana enforcement to the states and focus on graver crimes.
为什么联邦政府会采取这样的行动？一方面，联邦法律《药物控制条例》将药用大麻列为监管项目，进而认定所有使用和买卖大麻行为违法。但另一方面奥巴马政府原先表示不会有意在大麻问题上与各州不合。在2009年所谓的奥格登备忘录中，司法部建议其法官们专注于更严重的犯罪，而将微不足道的大麻执法交与各州去执行。