MARIJUANA: LEAVE ROOM FOR RELIEF FOR PATIENTS

There are a lot of sick people stuck between the State of California and
the U.S. government as the Supreme Court ponders a state's right to allow
the use of marijuana as medicine.

The high court can say this is a state decision -- California voters
approved it -- or side with the federal government, which has outlawed
marijuana and considers it a "gateway drug" with no medicinal value. Of
course cancer and AIDS patients who smoke pot to relieve symptoms and
restore appetite are more concerned about the ultimate gateway than about
moving on to heroin.

But even with its recently expressed states' rights bent, the court seems
unlikely to chart a compassionate course here. Thus it will fall to
Congress to fix the federal law that turns desperately ill people into
criminals just for seeking some benign relief from their disease or its
gut-wrenching treatment.

The California case reached the U.S. Supreme Court as a result of a suit
filed by the U.S. Department of Justice during the Clinton administration
to stop the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative from helping AIDS and
cancer patients smoke pot. The federal government argues that there is "no
currently accepted medical use" of marijuana and tolerating it would
"undermine the authority of (Congress) to protect the public from hazardous
drugs."

Others -- including members of the medical community and a federal appeals
court -- think doctors should be able to recommend certain patients use pot.

Eight states beyond California have embraced the notion of medical
marijuana. Michigan has not, but there is a petition drive under way to
place on the state's 2002 ballot a proposal that would loosen restrictions
on marijuana for personal and medicinal use. The Supreme Court's decision
could have a substantial impact on the likelihood of that drive going anywhere.

It would be coldly ironic if a court so committed to states' rights and
individual liberty turned a deaf ear to the cries of people in pain.