Los Angeles ( CNN ) -- A medical marijuana advocacy group sued the Obama administration Thursday , saying its policy `` to subvert local and state medical marijuana laws in California '' is unconstitutional . Americans for Safe Access accused the U.S. Justice Department of deploying aggressive SWAT-style raids , prosecuting medical marijuana patients and providers , and threatening local officials for implement state medical pot laws . The group , a nonprofit based in Oakland , California , that says it 's the country 's largest medical marijuana advocacy organization , cited U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag of the northern district of California in its federal lawsuit filed in San Francisco . `` Under the Tenth Amendment , the government may not commandeer the law-making function of the state or its subdivisions or indirectly through the selective enforcement of its drug laws , '' the lawsuit said . `` It is this misuse of the government 's commerce clause powers , designed to deprive the state of its sovereign ability to chart a separate course , that forms the basis of the plaintiff 's claim . '' Earlier this month , federal prosecutors in California announced a series of actions targeting what they characterized as the `` large , for-profit marijuana industry '' that has developed since the state legalized medical marijuana for select patients 15 years ago . Four U.S. attorneys -- Benjamin Wagner , Andre Birotte Jr. , Laura Duffy and Melinda Haag -- detailed in a joint press release and later a press conference in Sacramento some steps that have been taken in conjunction with federal law enforcement and local officials in California . They include letters of warning to landlords and lien holders of places in which marijuana is being sold illegally , `` civil forfeiture lawsuits against properties involved in drug trafficking activity '' and numerous criminal cases . The latter refers to arrests in recent weeks related to cases filed in federal courts in Los Angeles , San Diego , Sacramento and Fresno , all part of an effort that Wagner claimed has resulted in the seizure of hundreds of pounds of marijuana , tens of thousands of plants and hundreds of thousands in cash . Thursday 's lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and was filed on behalf of its 20,000 members in California , the medical marijuana advocacy group said . `` This case is aimed at restoring California 's sovereign and constitutional right to establish its own public health laws based on this country 's federalist principles , '' the association 's chief counsel , Joe Elford , said in a statement . In 1996 , California voters approved Proposition 215 to exempt doctors and seriously ill patients from marijuana laws and allow them to grow and use it in treatment . The bill did n't legalize marijuana for all , but it did lead to the emergence of hundreds of dispensaries where people -- legally only those with medical conditions and a doctor 's authorization -- could get the drug . In explaining the federal crackdown earlier this month , Wagner , the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California , said authorities `` are not focused on backyard grows with small amounts of marijuana by seriously ill people . We are targeting commercial operations , which profit from growing and distributing ... and often use the trappings of state law for cover , but in fact are abusing state law . '' Haag , U.S. attorney for California 's northern district , claimed that `` profiteers ... motivated not by compassion , but by money '' had `` hijacked '' the intent of voters to help those suffering from debilitating conditions . And Birotte , from California 's central district , said a chief problem lies in operations that make money not by selling marijuana to the sick , but to relatively healthy people . CNN 's Rich Porter and Erica Henry contributed to this story .
Americans for Safe Access sues the feds for their California crackdown on medical pot . The suit contends the federal government is violating the Tenth Amendment . This month , California 's four U.S. attorneys target big commercial pot growers . Prosecutors say the growers sell medical pot to healthy people .