OPEN UP MARIJUANA DEBATE

No American can honestly say that a heavy-handed Uncle Sam prosecuting
sick people who grow marijuana to ease their pain makes for a good
image.

The U.S. Supreme Court didn't say that either, despite ruling 6-3 that
federal authorities could indeed do that. But it's the ellipsis in the
court's decision on medical marijuana that Congress and the Bush White
House should note in crafting laws to change those circumstances.

In fact, Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the majority opinion,
called on Congress to change the law so that marijuana use for medical
purposes be allowed. The minority opinion, written by Justice Sandra
Day O'Connor and affirmed by Chief Justice William Rehnquist and
Justice Clarence Thomas, offered that states should be making the
decision, not the federal government.

O'Connor wrote that while she would have voted against a California
law in question before the high court, the justices overreached when
they made it a federal crime to grow small amounts of marijuana in a
private home for "one's own medicinal use."

The federal government has been so afraid of what people also might do
with marijuana that it has thought little about those who suffer. Ten
states, including California, have laws that allow doctors to
prescribe marijuana to their patients suffering from serious diseases
such as cancer or HIV in which traditional pain medications aren't as
effective in easing discomfort.

Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, introduced legislation in Tennessee this
year that would permit similar use in Tennessee. While acknowledging
that the bill had little chance for passage in the near future, Cohen
at least put the discussion on the public's table.

The court's ruling should put the issue on Congress' agenda. No one
should have to suffer pain from serious illness. Medicinal marijuana
should be prescribed and dispensed like every other controlled drug -
many of which are far more potent.

The court's decision doesn't ease the pain, but its prescription for a
congressional debate should begin.