Pubdate: Tue, 17 Mar 2009
Source: Record, The (Stockton, CA)
Copyright: 2009 The Record
Contact:  http://www.recordnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/428
Author: Clarence Page
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/bush.htm (Bush, George)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

END OF RAIDS IS 1ST STEP TOWARD SANITY ON MEDICAL POT

When Charles Lynch asked local officials for permission to sell an 
herbal medicine in the Central California town of Morro Bay, they 
granted it to him - even though the medicine was marijuana.

That's because marijuana recommended by a doctor has been legal in 
California since 1996. A dozen other states have passed similar laws. 
Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and New Hampshire are among about ten 
states that have been debating similar measures.

So Charlie applied for a business license, joined the chamber of 
commerce, talked to lawyers and even called the Drug Enforcement 
Administration before opening his medical marijuana dispensary with a 
grand ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Unfortunately for Charlie, none of this prevented him from being 
arrested in March 2007 when federal authorities raided his home and 
small business.

That's because the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Gonzalez v. Raich in 
2005 that in the issue of medical marijuana, federal law trumps the states.

"Today's decision," President George W. Bush's drug czar, John 
Walters, crowed at the time, "marks the end of medical marijuana as a 
political issue."

Well, not quite. President Barack Obama's Attorney General Eric 
Holder has announced that the Justice Department will stop raiding 
marijuana dispensaries in California and other states that allow 
medical marijuana.

But that doesn't help Charlie, whose sentencing is set for March 23. 
Lynch, who tried to conduct his business as openly and legally as 
possible under the laws enacted by Californians, is one of the more 
poignant examples of nonviolent offenders arrested and jailed by 
federal raiders.

Putting the brakes on medical marijuana raids is only one small step 
of the many that still need to be taken toward a sensible drug policy 
after years of backpedaling by Bush.

Obama apparently likes to multitask. Faced with a long list of thorny 
issues, he's decided to take them on all at once while his honeymoon 
lasts. While he's at it, he needs to modernize federal policy on the 
medicinal use of marijuana. Stopping the raids in states where it's 
legal is good for starters. He also needs to lift what has amounted 
to a ban on scientific research and push to change federal law that 
equates marijuana with heroin.

That's right. Since 1971, marijuana has been classified as a 
"Schedule I" narcotic, meaning it has no medical value. That's the 
same category as heroin. And as if that's not goofy enough, that 
would suggest marijuana is more dangerous than crack cocaine, a 
Schedule II drug that no one in the sane world describes as less 
dangerous than pot.

Yet that's the kind of thinking that gave a green light for the DEA 
to terrorize growers, providers, caregivers and patients with 
hundreds of commando-style raids. At least 90 major raids have been 
conducted by DEA agents in California, according to the Marijuana 
Policy Project, which advocates legalization of medicinal marijuana.

The Bush administration justified the federal crackdown against the 
medicinal use of marijuana as a way to stop some people from abusing 
the drug - as if some people didn't abuse every type of drug, legal 
or otherwise. In fact, the same rationale was used to justify alcohol 
prohibition a century ago. That didn't work out so well either.

Walters, like the drug czars before him, argued that the law must 
rely on scientific research, "not popular opinion." Yet 10 years 
after a study commissioned by President Bill Clinton's administration 
found medical value in smoked marijuana, the Bush experts say that's 
not enough.

Days before Obama's inauguration, the DEA denied an application by 
Professor Lyle Craker, who has been fighting in and out of court for 
eight years to obtain a license to conduct further DEA-approved 
research. Yet his study is the sort that must be done to provide the 
sort of data that the Bush administration said was lacking.

President Obama recently reversed much of what has been called the 
Bush administration's "war against science." He needs to turn around 
the war against medicinal marijuana research, too.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom