HOWEVER COMPASSIONATE THE INTENT, THE USE OF MARIJUANA IS STILL BANNED

The motives of those seeking an exception for marijuana in the
nation's drug control laws may be altogether altruistic. Anyone who
sees a loved one struggling with the ravages of a terminal cancer or
AIDS may be willing to do anything to ease the suffering, federal laws
be damned. That is what has largely driven voter initiatives in
several western states to exempt from state prosecution the use of
marijuana to ease the agony of seriously ill patients. Federal
prosecutors are unlikely to drag a cancer patient into court for
violating the nation's drug laws, but the Supreme Court this week
ruled that there is still a prohibition against marijuana
distribution. The court is right: Should society and its legislators
determine scientifically that marijuana or other controlled substances
have a beneficial effect, then laws can be changed. All motives are
not altruistic, and the case for medical marijuana is not so clear as
its advocates would put it. There may yet be a use for medical
marijuana, but science will find the answer, not the ballot box.