DON'T LET DEA'S DOGS LOOSE ON MEDICAL POT

The Issue: The New Chief Of The Drug Enforcement Administration Says He
Will Enforce The Law Against Distribution Of Marijuana For Medical Purposes.

THE threat by the new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration to
enforce the federal ban on distribution of marijuana should not strike fear
into the hearts of Hawaii residents using marijuana for medical purposes.

The labyrinth created by the U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of medical
marijuana as an exception to the law effectively empties the threat,
although possibly driving some patients to illicit behavior in obtaining
the substance. Congress should make their lives simpler by carving out the
exception they have sought in the states where it is legal. Asa Hutchinson,
a former Republican congressman from Arkansas, told reporters on his first
day as chief of the DEA that he would enforce the federal ban on marijuana
distribution after considering "a lot of different aspects." One of those
aspects, of course, is that using marijuana for medical purposes is legal
in eight states, including Hawaii. Proponents of marijuana's medical use
say it relieves pain from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and
other illnesses.

However, the Supreme Court in May ruled that federal law against marijuana
allows no exception.

The ruling was based on legal, not medical, grounds, and dealt with
organized manufacturing and distribution of marijuana, not its use. Ted
Sakai, Hawaii's public safety director and administrator of the state law
allowing medical use of marijuana, said after the high court's decision
that Hawaii would continue registering patients for treatment with
marijuana. Those registered are allowed to grow and possess marijuana for
medical purposes; the state law does not pertain to how they obtain it.
That places Hawaii's legally authorized users of medical marijuana who are
unable to grow it at home in a precarious situation.

Doctors who may legally prescribe marijuana and administer it in private
face the same problem: How do they get their hands on it? Canada this year
announced plans to make it easier to possess and cultivate marijuana for
medical purposes, but importing marijuana into the United S tates is illegal.

The only alternative is for medical marijuana users to seek out illegal
drug traffickers willing to risk Hutchinson's snare. If Congress is
unwilling to create a nationwide exception to marijuana distribution for
medical purposes, it at least should permit its distribution in states
where its use is legal.

That would recognize states' rightful role as laboratories for innovation.