WRITER COMMENTS ON MARIJUANA LAW

While there have been studies showing that marijuana can shrink
cancerous tumors, medical marijuana is essentially a palliative drug.
If a doctor recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing
chemotherapy and it helps them feel better, then it's working. In the
end, medical marijuana is a quality of life issue best left to
patients and their doctors.

Federal bureaucrats waging war on non-corporate drugs contend that
organic marijuana is not an effective health intervention. The federal
government's prescribed intervention for medical marijuana patients is
handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records.

This heavy-handed approach suggests that drug warriors are not
well-suited to dictate health care decisions. It's long past time
that Congress showed some leadership on the issue and passed
legislation reaffirming the Constitution's Tenth Amendment guarantee
of states rights.

States that prefer to cage sick patients for daring to feel better can
continue to do so. The more enlightened states that have passed
compassionate-use legislation should not be stymied by a federal
government that really should have better things to do.

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.