Pubdate: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN) Copyright: 2009 Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. Contact: http://www.timesfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/992 A FAIR MARIJUANA POLICY The Justice Department told federal prosecutors in 14 states that they should not longer prosecute individuals who use or distribute medical marijuana as long as such consumption or sales do not break existing state laws. A memo forwarded from the Justice Department to U.S. attorneys in those states on Monday delineates the new standard. The revised policy is eminently sensible from medical, legal and economic perspectives. Medically, the government's decision acknowledges a fact long known in health care circles. Marijuana is sometimes the only substance that can provide meaningful relief from the often intractable pain often associated with cancer, AIDs and other grievous diseases and medical conditions including chemotherapy-induced nausea. It has became an acknowledged agent of last resort in pain management. As a consequence, 14 states have created legal frameworks within which marijuana for pain relief may be obtained in a highly regulated marketplace. Those laws, however, conflict with federal statues, which ban the sale and consumption of marijuana for any reason.. The result: Those who used or sold medicinal marijuana within the parameters of state law nevertheless could be arrested and tried for violating federal statues governing marijuana sales. If prosecutors abide by Monday's memo -- and they should -- those who abide by state laws will be safe from federal prosecution. It is important to note, however, that the Justice Department memo does not open up the marijuana trade. It carefully restricts its policy to state-regulated networks of suppliers and carefully vetted users. The same memo makes it clear that the Justice Department will continue to target the marijuana trade in other instances, and provides directives for such prosecution. Government officials will continue to go after individuals related to cases in which the use or sale of marijuana involves violence, firearms, sales to minors, money laundering or other crimes which involve illegal marijuana use. That segment of the fight against drugs and against the cartels and other suppliers understandably will continue. The new policy makes sense. It establishes priorities that will allow federal prosecutors to concentrate on major violations of drug laws and to employ both manpower and financial resources in what the Justice Department correctly says will be a more "efficient and rational" manner than is currently the case. The memo also acknowledges public opinion. Surveys indicate that about 80 percent of Americans approve of legalized medical marijuana and that many others would like to see additional decriminalization of marijuana in other spheres of life. The government's protracted and unnecessary battle against medical marijuana has produced little of value. Federal prosecutors should honor state laws in this instance. Doing so will allow the government to turn its attention and its resources to the broader and largely unsuccessful war against more dangerous drugs and those that traffic them. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake