COURT HAD LITTLE CHOICE, BUT CONGRESS CAN SHOW MERCY

Given the way the federal drug laws are written, there was little the U.S.
Supreme Court could do this week besides strike down the medical use of
marijuana. But despite that unanimous decision (with Justice Stephen Breyer
abstaining), Congress can amend a little compassion into its policies.

Medical marijuana is not the solution to the nation's end-of-life problems.
But it does provide great relief to gravely, mostly terminally ill patients
suffering from AIDS, cancer and other diseases. Nine states have recognized
that and made the medicinal use of marijuana legal.

But even where people can use it for medical reasons, the Supreme Court
ruling makes criminals of people who distribute it to the sick.

Congress can fix that by making a medicinal exception for marijuana
distribution without undermining the drug war that has been such a colossal
failure anyway. It has been more than 30 years since Congress determined
"that marijuana has no medical benefits worthy of an exception," as Justice
Clarence Thomas wrote of the Controlled Substance Act.

Since then, however, patients suffering the withering affects of disease,
and its sometimes ravaging treatments, have found relief from nausea,
increased appetite and just a general peacefulness that no prescription
medication offered. The doctors and nurses who treat them know how
beneficial it can be.

For the terminally ill, that peacefulness can help stave off another red
herring in the end-of-life debate -- assisted suicide; those who know they
won't suffer don't seek such a dramatic ending. For the seriously ill, it
can help rebuild the strength they need to fight the disease and get their
lives back.

Modern medicine clearly has a long way to go to ease the pain of the
sickest of the sick. Marijuana isn't a cure-all. But when there's nothing
left to be cured, or traditional medicine can't stop the worst symptoms,
can't the government have enough heart to ease the suffering?