The Obama administration gave Hawaii and other states that have legalized medical marijuana the freedom to go forward with their efforts to make it available to patients. The Legislature should provide for a distribution system with safeguards to protect against the kind of carnival atmosphere that has jarred Los Angeles.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced last October that the Justice Department would not waste energy prosecuting patients who use marijuana for medical purposes. The George W. Bush administration had hounded such state-allowed operations, mainly in California.

The Los Angeles City Council this week approved an ordinance that is expected to shut down 80 percent of the city's nearly 1,000 medical marijuana dispensaries. The action came after community groups had long complained about the numerous dispensaries near residential neighborhoods, schools and parks.

“;These are out of control,”; said Councilman Ed Reyes, whose committee oversaw the writing of the ordinance. “;Our city has more of these than Starbucks.”;

At the same time, Colorado state legislators are considering a bill that would bar doctors from working out of dispensaries or offering discounts to patients who agree to use a particular dispensary. It also would prohibit dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools, day cares and other dispensaries, similar to the Los Angeles proposal that the mayor is expected to sign.

Hawaii legalized marijuana for medical purposes a decade ago. However, in the absence of medical marijuana dispensaries, the state's more than 4,000 patients have had to obtain marijuana from drug traffickers.

The medical marijuana program has been assigned to the Department of Public Safety's narcotics division, which has been accused of violating privacy by releasing the identities of patients and doctors.

Gov. Linda Lingle has ignored 2009 legislation directing her to create a task force at finding a way for patients to acquire it legally. Her administration has insisted on adhering to the federal law that the Justice Department has decided to ignore.

Bills before this year's Legislature would place the medical marijuana program under the Department of Health, where it belongs. Marijuana has been found to be effective in easing pain from such diseases at AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis. The department would license producers and dispensers.

The proposal importantly would create a task force assigned with developing a distribution system and identifying requirements for the licensing of producers and production facilities. The Los Angeles experience should be helpful in determining how such a system should operate.