LEGALIZE MEDICAL POT

Thousands of patients have borne witness to the fact that smoking
marijuana helps stimulate hunger and relieve nausea caused by
chemotherapy or AIDS. Sadly, federal law forbids this kind of
humanitarian use of the drug. The production, sale and possession of
pot is illegal, even when the user seeks not a high but relief from
symptoms related to a debilitating illness.

Worse, George Bush's Justice Department under Attorney General John
Ashcroft has displayed a zealous dedication to enforcing this inhumane
statute. The department even threatened to punish doctors in
California who recommended pot to their patients until the courts
ruled such action a violation of free speech.

In spite of it all, nine states have legalized the use of marijuana
for appropriate medical purposes. New Jersey would become the 10th
state to do so under a bipartisan bill that will be introduced in the
Legislature this fall. The value of this kind of independent action by
state governments is twofold. It protects patients and caregivers from
the state prosecution that constitutes 99 percent of the marijuana-law
enforcement in the United States, and it helps encourage those U.S.
senators and representatives whose hearts are in the right place, even
if their backbones are weak, to support a change in the federal law.

Drug warriors blinded by their own ideology argue that carving out a
medical exemption for pot would put the country on the slippery slope
to legalizing drugs, but that isn't true. Statutory language has been
carefully crafted in the nine states that are out front on this issue
to ensure that marijuana can be obtained only by those with a
legitimate medical need for it. And Canada has been able to maintain
its defenses against recreational use of pot while allowing patients
to grow the plant for medical purposes with a doctor's approval, or
even obtain it free from the government.

The promised sponsors of the New Jersey bill, Assemblymen Reed
Gusciora, D-Princeton, and Patrick Carroll, R-Morris Township, have
been touched by cases like that of 28-year-old Sean McGrath. Mr.
McGrath died last June after a two-year battle with cancer during
which his weight fell to 97 pounds because the disease and heavy doses
of chemotherapy robbed him of his appetite.

"It was devastating to watch," said Sean's father, Don McGrath of
Washington Township. "The medicine they gave him to combat the effects
of the chemotherapy didn't work. The only thing that did work was when
he started smoking marijuana. That brought back his appetite and gave
him some comfort.

"He would have preferred to use a legal drug, but there was no
alternative. He felt uncomfortable because it was illegal, but he was
more concerned about the college kids who were delivering it to him.
He didn't want them to get arrested."

As Assemblyman Gusciora says, "We're talking about people with terminal
illness who deserve some comfort before they pass away. We shouldn't make
criminals of people on their deathbeds." Adds Assemblyman Carroll: "If you
can go to your doctor and get a derivative of the poppy to treat pain, why
can't you get a derivative of the cannabis plant to treat your symptoms?
There is no such thing as an evil plant. If a doctor using his or her best
medical judgment thinks marijuana is the best thing for the patient, he or
she should be allowed to prescribe it."

Their common sense - and their compassion - are clear and compelling.
We hope these attributes can be found among their colleagues in the
New Jersey Legislature, and in the United States Congress.