In California, they're springing up like Starbucks.

They're called Cannabis Clubs ... storefronts openly selling medical marijuana to those who qualify.

A problem arises though when state law permits medicinal marijuana but federal law prohibits it.

Reverend Lynette Shaw operates a Cannabis Club in Marin, California:

We asked Rev. Shaw if the feds have been bothering her place lately.

Amendment 20, approved by Colorado voters in November 2000, authorizes the use of marijuana to alleviate certain debilitating medical conditions: cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS positive, cachexia; severe pain; severe nausea; seizures, including those that are characteristic of epilepsy; or persistent muscle spasms, including those that are characteristic of multiple sclerosis. In addition, patients and physicians may submit petitions to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to include other medical conditions that may be alleviated by the medical use of marijuana. Amendment 20 authorizes a patient or a primary caregiver who has been issued a Medical Marijuana Registry identification card to possess no more than two ounces of a usable form of marijuana and not more than six marijuana plants, with three or fewer being mature, flowering plants that are producing a usable form of marijuana.

Bakersfield Brown is on the low end of the THC potency scale. On the upper end, there are brands like White Rhino and Placer Gold with prices ranging $200 to $300 an oz.

Medicinal marijuana is also legal in Colorado. Residents here made it so with the approval of Amendment 20 in November, 2000.

However, citing federal statutes, federal agents continue to harass citizens who have a legal right to smoke da weed. Case in point: Don Nord of Hayden, Colorado. Federal agents raided Hayden's home last year, confiscating his pot — even though he was permitted to have it by state law.

A judge ordered the agents to return the weed and when they refused, he threatened to find them in contempt of court.

The US Attorney's office, at last report, has filed papers in federal court asking that the state case be "removed" from state to federal court. That's where it stands at the moment. We'll keep you posted.

Want to know more about medical marijuana laws in Colorado? Do you think you might qualify? Need an official form to fill out and submit to the Colorado State Department of Health & Environment? Click here.