MISPLACED PRIORITIES

With all the Bush administration has on its plate -- the aftermath in Iraq,
Israeli-Palestinian discord, homeland security, economic woes -- one might
think it has no time to pick on doctors who prescribe medical marijuana.

Yet the administration continues to escalate its war on medical marijuana
- -- and Proposition 215 in particular -- by intimidating physicians who are
doing what they think is best for their patients.

The White House has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow federal
authorities to punish California doctors who merely recommend marijuana.

President Bush wants the authority to revoke doctors' licenses to prescribe
drugs if they tell patients that pot might be helpful. A ruling in the
White House's favor would overturn the U.S. Court of Appeals in San
Francisco that said penalizing doctors for just consulting with patients
violates free-speech guarantees.

But Bush's motive may be to uproot Proposition 215. Ever since voters
approved the law in 1996, raids by federal drug agents have disrupted the
state's medical marijuana operations.

Marijuana does appear to offer a benefit for some medical conditions. Of
course, the clinical proof of such benefits remains elusive, especially
since the federal government has resisted funding definitive clinical studies.

"What we're asserting here is the basic, fundamental right of local
government . . . to control the health and safety of its citizens," is how
Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen put it.

The Supreme Court should dismiss the appeal, and Bush should attend to far
more pressing matters.