WHEN MARIJUANA IS MEDICINE

Daring to raise the issue of decriminalizing the possession of marijuana
used to be a third rail of American politics: touch it and die.

But encouraging signs are emerging from various quarters showing that
public attitudes may be changing, at least when it comes to the use of
marijuana to relieve the debilitating side effects of some diseases.

At first blush, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week to prohibit a
"medical necessity" defense for distributors of medical marijuana was a
crushing blow to the suffering Americans who find comfort in smoking this
all-natural reliever.

But the unanimous decision wasn't the knee-capper that it first appeared to be.

The court's 8-0 ruling (Justice Stephen Breyer didn't weigh in because his
brother was the trial judge in the case) applies only to federal law and
was focused almost exclusively on distribution issues. The case did not
venture into the realm of a state's prerogative to allow patients to use
medical marijuana with a doctor's approval.

Considering that almost 99 percent of marijuana arrests in this country are
made by state and local police, how states approach this issue has far
greater real-world impact on Americans than what the feds may or may not do.

Eight states and the District of Columbia have already enacted laws that
remove criminal penalties for patients who grow, use and possess medical
marijuana with their doctor's approval. Alaska, California, Colorado,
Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington made the enlightened and compassionate
change as a result of voter initiatives.

The national debate over the decriminalization of medical marijuana is far
from over. In some circles, it hasn't even begun because certain mentally
time-warped politicians are too frightened to even broach the subject for
fear of being viewed as radical-fringe.

It won't help the effort to bring a humane voice to this debate now that
John P. Walters has been tapped to be the national drug czar. Walters has
publicly aired Neanderthal views on the potential medicinal uses of marijuana.

Maybe Walters has changed his tune to one less harsh in light of the study
released in 1999 by the prestigious Institute of Medicine at the National
Academy of Sciences. The report said that the compounds found in marijuana
do have medicinal applications and are effective, for example, in the
treatment of side effects from chemotherapy.

Medical marijuana isn't going to save anyone's life. It isn't going to kill
anyone, either. But it can provide relief, albeit temporary, to people who
are struggling to maintain some quality in their lives during their last days.

Opponents of the decriminalization of medical marijuana love to trot out
the cliche "slippery slope" when cautioning against the idea. If we approve
this, they warn, the next thing you know teens will be able to purchase
cocaine over the counter.

Criminey. In reality, it's been a strenuous uphill push to raise the issue
to reasoned debate. Can we please drop the hyperbole?

What are lawmakers afraid of? That terminally ill cancer patients will
develop a smoker's hack? That someone with full-blown AIDS will become
addicted? That it will be a gateway drug to harder stuff? God love them,
they're dying what can be horrifically painful deaths. If marijuana helps
relieve the nausea that stops them from keeping potentially life-prolonging
drugs in their stomachs until they dissolve into the bloodstream, let them
light up.

No one with a sliver of compassion would wish a disease as devastating as
AIDS on another human being. But periodically, for just nanoseconds of
time, one wonders how members of Congress and the various state
legislatures might react if a family member or close friend were stricken
with an illness with symptoms that could be alleviated by medical marijuana.