Drug Policy Alliance head: Feds trying to intimidate medical marijuana industry

Ethan Nadelmann, president of the Drug Policy Alliance, said Wednesday that federal authorities were trying to suppress the booming medical marijuana industry by raiding Oaksterdam University.

The California school, which trained people to work in the medical marijuana industry, was unexpectedly raided by federal agents on Monday as part of an ongoing investigation.

"What is notable about the Richard Lee case -- the Oaksterdamn case -- and some others is they are not saying why they are doing it," Nadelmann said on Bloomberg TV. "They're not saying why they picked out one or the other. I think what this is really about is federal authorities creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in the burgeoning medical marijuana industry."

"The Feds have the ability and the discretion, which the exercised in the first eighteen months of the Obama Administration, to say that if the states and localities are effectively and responsibly regulating this stuff, then we don't need to get involved," he added.

Nadelmann said that by raiding state-authorized medical marijuana providers, federal authorities were pushing the industry underground, which helped drug cartels.

Watch video, courtesy of Bloomberg TV, below: