RIDICULOUS ANTI-POT RAID

The Founding Fathers must be rolling over in their graves. Under their
plan, individuals were to have maximum freedom to make decisions for
themselves, and citizens were to retain their power to make most
decisions about crime and punishment at the state level. Not so much
anymore.

A few weeks ago, federal drug agents raided 11 medical-marijuana
centers in Los Angeles County. The U.S. attorney's office said they
violated federal laws against the cultivation and distribution of marijuana.

In doing so, these agents overruled the will of the people of
California, who passed a law legalizing the use of marijuana for
medical purposes. As Californians saw it, the interests of sick and
suffering people outweigh those of drug prosecutors in the case of
marijuana. The legislature passed, and the governor signed, the law
after plenty of debate and careful consideration.

But federal agents press on anyway, bent on protecting their drug-war
turf, or following out the window a preposterous 2005 U.S. Supreme
Court ruling that medical marijuana was a federal matter because
marijuana could be sold across state borders. As Justice Clarence
Thomas, in the minority of the 6-to-3 ruling, warned at the time, "If
Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can
regulate virtually anything - and the federal government is no longer
one of limited and enumerated powers."

This has resonance locally, since Rhode Island is one of 11 states
(with Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada,
Oregon, Vermont and Washington) that have ruled it legal for patients,
with their physicians' approval, to possess and use marijuana,
according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws.

It is terrible for the federal government to devote limited resources
to prosecuting this victimless crime, particularly at a time when the
country is at continued risk of attack from terrorists. Are there no
other crimes that take greater precedence than the use of marijuana by
unfortunate patients?

The Founders created a system that lets the individual states try out
new ideas, acting as laboratories of government, so that the best
practices could be adopted elsewhere. Medical marijuana is one such
experiment well worth trying out. It is outrageous that the Bush
administration has targeted these experiments, duly approved by state
governments, for prosecution and punishment.

Citizens should protest this misuse of power, and Congress should fix
this problem by statute.