Pubdate: Tue, 07 Jun 2005 Source: North Adams Transcript (MA) Copyright: 2005 New England Newspapers, Inc. Contact: http://www.thetranscript.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3745 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Raich (Angel Raich) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) SOME JUSTICES NEED TO TAKE A PILL On Monday, the nation got another preview of the right-wing Supreme Court President George W. Bush and the radical Republicans in Congress would like to assemble. Voting 6-3, the High Court spitefully overturned the laws of several enlightened states that had permitted the medical use of marijuana. Never mind that far stronger drugs -- like morphine -- can be prescribed by physicians, this court decision is ludicrous on any number of fronts. But what it really represents is the radical right's attempt to crush anything that even hints of a liberal attitude. As Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said in dissenting from the ruling, the majority had to ignore the classic conservative mantra of states' rights in order to justify the Bush administration's stubborn attempts to bully people with cancer, AIDS, Lou Gehrig's disease, MS and other ailments. These people are using marijuana to not only relieve pain but to increase appetite so they might better deal with their fates. And for what grand principle did the court act in this case? That's a good question. We think that, incredibly, this is another power play by the likes of Antonin Scalia to somehow punish those liberals of their age whose lifestyles -- including, yes, marijuana -- so offended their self-righteous personalities, and others of the radical right. Whatever this decision represents, it is not the fair-minded conservatism of the past, represented today by Sen. John McCain and precious few other Republicans in Congress. This decision also illustrates why the battle to prevent Mr. Bush from appointing any more radicals to the court is worthy of a "full nuclear response" by Senate Democrats. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek