The California Senate on Thursday approved a joint resolution calling on the federal government to halt crackdowns on licensed medical marijuana dispensaries.

The resolution, SJR 20, was approved 24 to 15 and was authored by outgoing state Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco.)

Migden, who was defeated in her primary re-election bid last month by termed out fellow Democrat Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), said she believes the federal government's Drug Enforcement Agency has better ways of spending its time.

"(I am) incensed that the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) seems to have nothing better to do than waste drug-fighting resources running roughshod over California's state-authorized medical marijuana dispensaries for the sick and terminally ill," Migden said in a statement. 

Migden said the non-binding resolution asks the federal government to respect California's so-called "compassionate use" marijuana statutes. In 1996, the state's voters approved Prop. 215, which legalized the limited use and cultivation of marijuana as a physician-approved medicine.

With the passage of Prop. 215, California became one of a dozen states in the nation to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.