Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jun 2005
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Fresno Bee
Contact:  http://www.fresnobee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/161
Cited: Gonzales v. Raich ( www.angeljustice.org/ )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Raich (Angel Raich)

THE COURT'S POT SHOT

Government should reclassify marijuana for medical
use.

What a waste of time and a moral blunder for armed federal agents to
raid the homes of seriously ill cancer patients to seize medical
marijuana. Congress could -- and should -- change how it regulates
marijuana, but hasn't.

Now the U.S. Supreme Court has added to the craziness by relying on
the "commerce clause" of the Constitution to strike down California's
medical marijuana law. This is a states' rights issue, and California
should have been able to allow the medicinal use of marijuana.

The pernicious effects of the so-called war on drugs launched in the
1970s can be seen in the Supreme Court's latest ruling. The court
rightly upheld the principle that Congress has the constitutional
power to regulate "controlled substances" that may enter the national
market. Clearly, the federal government has an interest in preventing
drug trafficking.

But as a practical matter affecting the lives of real people with
debilitating diseases, the 1970 Controlled Substances Act is so
draconian in its classification of marijuana that it has put the
states in a difficult position. The plaintiffs were Californians Angel
Raich and Diane Monson. Raich has a brain tumor and Monson suffers
from a degenerative spinal disease. The medicinal pot eases their pain
and allows them to make it through each day.

Too bad, the court ruled. If you allow medicinal marijuana, the next
thing you know Colombian drug lords will be running pot clubs across
America.

Many studies have concluded that marijuana has therapeutic value for
pain relief, control of nausea and appetite stimulation for patients
with cancer, AIDS and other illnesses. Yet federal law continues to
classify marijuana in the strictest Schedule I category -- along with
such drugs as heroin and LSD -- as having "high potential for abuse"
and "no currently accepted medical use."

Schedule II through Schedule V drugs that have potential for abuse but
have "currently accepted medical use" may be prescribed and dispensed
under strict control. Incredibly, cocaine is classified as a Schedule
II drug, along with methadone and morphine.

The 6-3 Supreme Court majority acknowledges this case was especially
difficult because "despite a congressional finding to the contrary,
marijuana does have valid therapeutic purposes." As the court notes,
Congress -- or, as the law allows, the U.S. attorney general in
consultation with the secretary of health and human services -- could
reclassify marijuana. But neither Congress nor the attorney general
has acted. So no one should be surprised that states, including
California, have taken matters into their own hands to establish laws
assuring the safe, regulated distribution of medical marijuana to
seriously ill patients.

The court said, however, that this is a national matter and the people
may need to pressure Congress to act. Through the democratic process
the "voices of voters" allied with patients who rely on medical
marijuana "may one day be heard in the halls of Congress."

That's small comfort to Angel Raich and Diane Monson, and others who
use regulated medical marijuana for personal use under the direction
of a doctor.

Rather than expend resources harassing ill patients, the U.S. attorney
general should reclassify marijuana and subject it to the same strict
controls as other Schedule II to Schedule V drugs. Marijuana does not
belong in Schedule I. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake