BAD PRESCRIPTION

The High Court Upholds A Senseless Marijuana Policy

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government can
prohibit the large-scale distribution of marijuana by private clubs
even in the states that have allowed a medical exception for its use.

On the narrow legal question of federal authority over Schedule I
drugs under the Controlled Substances Act, the 8-0 ruling is
defensible. But the effect of the court's action is to perpetuate a
blunderbuss attack against targeted drugs, regardless of the evidence
and regardless of the impact.

In his majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas concluded that, under
federal law, marijuana "has no currently accepted medical use in
treatment in the United States." The Institute of Medicine would beg
to differ.

That body, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, reported in
1999 that marijuana can have a very beneficial effect on certain
patients, including those dealing with nausea from chemotherapy,
chronic wasting from AIDS or spasms from multiple sclerosis. It found
no evidence that marijuana use led to harder drugs and said the
withdrawal symptoms were mild and passed quickly.

The message is sinking in with voters around the country, who have
approved referendums for the medical use of marijuana in seven states.
In California, the 1996 vote was 3-1 in favor. In Hawaii, a medical
use law was approved by the legislature.

But the federal government will hear none of it. To preserve the
purity of the war against drugs, it insists on enforcing an absolute
prohibition of offending substances.

The drug warriors are terrified of sending a mixed message to the
nation's children. How can you say marijuana is bad, if you at the
same time acknowledge that it can be used for good? Demonization,
after all, is a long-standing tool of warfare.

And if the result is cruel and callous, a denial of relief and comfort
to people who are sick, well, that is simply a price that must be
paid. It is one of many.

Without overturning the state medical exception laws, or ruling out
other scenarios in which sick people get access to the drug, the
Supreme Court endorsed the federal government's right to shut down
cannabis clubs. But the fact that the federal government has the right
to behave stupidly does not mean it should continue to do so.