Pubdate: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 Source: Northwest Missourian, The (Northwest U, MO) Copyright: 2009 The Northwest Missourian Contact: http://www.nwmissourinews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2793 Author: Jake Taylor Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) GOVERNMENT SHOULD CONSIDER LEGALIZING MEDICINAL MARIJUANA Why can't we smoke dope . when we are sick? In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Gonzales v. Raich 545 U.S. 1 (2005) that the federal government may ban the use of marijuana, even for medical purposes, under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution (a.k.a. the Commerce Clause) which allows the federal government to "regulate Commerce.among the several States." The bench used the Commerce Clause to say that the marijuana trade (even though illegal) is just that - trade. Therefore, Congress can pass laws that regulate the use and control of marijuana. Since that decision, the advocacy for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes has been somewhat quiet. That is until of late. In the small town of Cliff Village, Mo. (on the outskirts of Joplin), Mayor Joe Blundell proposed a city ordinance allowing the use of medicinal marijuana. He himself was hit by a train eight years ago and uses the drug to relieve the pain of the screws and brackets that have been drilled into his spine. According to the Joplin Globe, that proposal was passed just two weeks ago. The significance of Raich is that now federal officials can raid Blundell's home if he is using the drug, regardless of the new ordinance that has been passed in Cliff Village. The real question we should ask ourselves is what is the harm in smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes? I am sure there will be some people out there that would take advantage of the situation and try to "score" some dope for recreational purposes if it were legalized, but doesn't that already happen with prescription drugs today? In the aforementioned Gonzales v. Raich, the woman in question, Angel Raich, suffered from life-threatening illnesses and allergies, which prevented her from taking prescription drugs. Since her options had been severely limited, Raich relied upon medicinal marijuana to ease her pain. Most of the cases that I have heard of that deal with medicinal marijuana involve debilitating illnesses and/or elderly patients that use the drug because of its lack of side effects as well as non-habit forming traits. I am not too worried that ol' grandma is in risk of becoming a drug addict or will start playing video games all day. Nor am I worried that she will eat a half-dozen frozen burritos using Doritos as some sort of spoon just because she smokes a few "jazz" cigarettes to ease her chronic back problems or help with her glaucoma. Why then is the federal government so hell-bent on demonizing this drug? Do they realize the potential for revenue that marijuana would generate if legalized? Aren't we in some sort of economic crisis right now? Not to mention, if marijuana were legalized across the board (not just for medicinal use) it would be safe to assume that the quality of product would improve greatly (if any of you college kids care about that kind of stuff). I am not saying that we should all travel to the Capitol steps and protest for our right to get baked all day in our parents' basement, but we should sit back and ask ourselves . what's the big deal? It's not like a lot of us aren't already smoking the stuff, and we are not asking them to legalize methamphetamines (however, I do hear that stuff does wonders for weight loss). - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin