MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN JEOPARDY

Last November Nevada voters overwhelmingly approved a statewide referendum
to allow marijuana's limited use for medical purposes.

That offered great hope for not only some cancer patients -- since
marijuana can dampen the nausea they feel from chemotherapy -- but also for
AIDS patients, because the drug boosts their appetite.

But it's unfortunate that medical marijuana's implementation likely will be
delayed.

As the Sun's Emily Richmond reported Friday, the organization representing
1,100 Nevada physicians continues to oppose medical marijuana.

Without the doctors' backing, this innovative plan almost certainly will go
nowhere since only physicians would have the authority to prescribe marijuana.

Part of the reason why the Nevada State Medical Association opposes
marijuana's use is that it doesn't believe that the drug's medical benefits
have yet to be adequately demonstrated. Besides, the group argues, there
are other drugs that can relieve pain and alleviate other debilitating side
effects from medical treatments. There are some physicians who believe
marijuana has some benefits, though, and they could enable the program to
get going.

But the biggest impediment to medical marijuana's implementation are legal
questions -- doctors don't want to run afoul of federal law that prohibits
marijuana's use.

In May the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal law, which limits the use
of controlled substances, didn't provide any exceptions for marijuana. But
proponents of medical marijuana contend that the Supreme Court did leave
some wiggle room in its decision so that states, such as Nevada, could go
forward with their programs.

Still, the court's decision was muddled enough that doctors fear participating.

The easiest way to clear up this confusion would be for Congress to simply
pass legislation that would allow the states to set up strictly controlled
programs to allow marijuana's use for medical reasons.

That bit of common sense probably won't happen any time soon, however.

So Nevada state officials involved with the issue should work earnestly
with the appropriate federal government agencies to determine what
reasonable steps can be taken to allow this worthy program to get started.
Patients shouldn't have to continue to wait.