FEDS SHOULD NOT BE DICTATING MEDICAL-MARIJUANA POLICIES

While there have been studies showing marijuana can shrink cancerous
tumors, medical marijuana is essentially a palliative drug. If a
doctor recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing
chemotherapy and it helps them feel better, it's working. In the end,
medical marijuana is a quality-of-life issue best left to patients and
their doctors.

Federal bureaucrats waging war on non-corporate drugs contend that
organic marijuana is not an effective health intervention. The federal
government's prescribed intervention for medical marijuana patients is
handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records. This heavy-handed approach
suggests that drug warriors are not well suited to dictate health-care
decisions.

It's long past time that Congress showed some leadership on the issue
and passed legislation reaffirming the Constitution's Tenth Amendment
guarantee of states' rights. States that prefer to cage sick patients
for daring to feel better can continue to do so ("Narrowly tailored
[Minnesota] bill would provide help, hope to the most seriously ill
patients," April 27). The more enlightened states that have passed
compassionate-use legislation should not be stymied by a federal
government that really should have better things to do.

Robert Sharpe

Arlington, Va.

The writer is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.