RIGHT RULING ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Physicians and patients alike have attested to the medical benefits of
marijuana to ease the effects of chemotherapy, chronic pain from spinal
cord injuries, glaucoma and in the treatment of AIDS patients. Recent
action by the U.S. Supreme Court will enable physicians to talk freely with
their patients about its use, and potentially to prescribe it in those
states where its medical use already is legal. The court refused to
consider the government's appeal of a ruling that determined doctors have a
right to discuss the medical use of marijuana in states that have
decriminalized its use for medical purposes.

So far, nine states have approved the medical use of marijuana: Alaska,
Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and
Maine. That says a persuasive case has been made in those jurisdictions for
its medical use in alleviating particularly dire conditions.

The court action now gives other states the opportunity to consider the
argument for medical marijuana, whether in legislatures or through voter
referendum. It's also a welcome signal for federal drug enforcement
officials to concentrate their efforts elsewhere in the nation's continuing
war on drugs.