A Kinder Pot Policy

Of the various fronts in the nation's "war on drugs," none seems more
perverse and pointless than the raids that Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft
pressed Drug Enforcement Administration agents to stage against
patients treating themselves with medical marijuana under Proposition
215, a law that California voters passed eight years ago.

On Monday, two of those patients --Angel Raich, an Oakland mother of
two who used the drug as a last resort to ease the constant pain of a
brain tumor, and Diane Monson of Oroville, who used cannabis to help
her stay mobile despite a degenerative spinal disease -- struck back,
appealing their right to treatment to the U.S. Supreme Court. That the
Justice Department considers them criminals shows something seriously
out of whack in Washington.

Ashcroft's lawyers argued, on narrow legal grounds, that the
government had every right to prosecute because Congress in 1970
decreed that marijuana was a Schedule 1 drug, a chemical devoid of any
possible medicinal value and illegal in all uses. Even morphine and
cocaine are granted more legitimate status.

Some of the justices fretted that allowing Raich to grow her own pot
and use it would open the floodgates for unlimited recreational use.
Granted, not every medical marijuana user has a case like Raich's, but
commercial prescription drugs are misused, often widely, without being
banned or put on Schedule 1.

Science has marched forward since 1970. Most medical authorities,
including the National Academy of Sciences, agree that marijuana can
be superior to other substances for the treatment or alleviation of
some grave disorders.

Society too has changed. In the elections earlier this month, voters,
even in some red states, supported letting seriously ill patients
medicate themselves with marijuana. Medical marijuana did better than
President Bush in Montana, garnering support of 62%, compared with
Bush's 59%. Even in Texas, a poll showed 75% support for legalizing
the medical use of marijuana.

With Ashcroft leaving town, Congress should press his likely
successor, Alberto Gonzales, to call off the medical marijuana attack
dogs. Legislators should also press federal regulators (specifically
the DEA) to move marijuana out of Schedule 1 to a lower classification
that would allow doctors to at least prescribe it without fear of
losing their licenses.

The Supreme Court probably won't rule on the marijuana case for
months. Congress and the White House could act much faster, bringing
federal policy in line with science and society. No one needs to watch
another brain tumor patient engage in a David-and-Goliath legal battle
to defend her last-ditch drug of choice.