NEW DEA HEAD STANDS FIRM

Asa Hutchinson, new director of the Drug Enforcement Administration,
is starting off right by announcing that state medical marijuana
statutes won't deter him from enforcing federal drug laws.

A former congressman who served as one of the House prosecutors
during Bill Clinton's impeachment trail, Hutchinson is all business.
Both constitutional law and scientific data are on his side.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that there is no
medical necessity exception to federal anti-marijuana laws.

Scientific evidence continues to mount against pot as a palliative.
An article in the British Medical Journal surveyed 39 clinical
studies and found that while marijuana is no better than codeine as a
pain reliever, it has serious side effects. A survey by Beth-Israel
Deaconess Medical Center showed the risk of heart attack rises nearly
five-fold in the first hour after smoking pot.

Some states have allowed medical decisions to be made at the ballot
box. But drug policy is a national concern. Hutchinson understands
the DEA is under no obligation to cave in to sympathy appeals from
the legalization lobby.