DEBATE STILL SMOKING

AT A TIME when the nation's law enforcement authorities appear to be making
limited headway against terrorism, they have found a much easier target --
medical marijuana.

The Bush administration is cracking down on California's marijuana clubs,
thus depriving thousands of cancer, glaucoma and AIDS patients of the herb
they need to relieve their suffering. In the past several weeks, Drug
Enforcement Administration agents have busted two marijuana clubs near Los
Angeles and one outside of Sacramento.

To be sure, the administration may be on strong legal ground. In May, the U.
S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that all but invalidated Proposition 215,
the 1996 California initiative to allow medical marijuana. Legal experts
quibble over whether that ruling leaves California any wiggle room.

To national conservatives, cracking down on the state's medical marijuana
clubs makes for great political grandstanding. But medical marijuana remains
deservedly popular with voters in California and the eight other states that
have similar measures.

Medical marijuana backers, such as San Francisco District Attorney Terence
Hallinan, make a convincing argument when they point out that medical
marijuana has not only relieved the suffering of many thousands of people
but has caused considerable savings for local law enforcement.

Medical marijuana clubs, which in the first couple years frequently sold pot
to whoever asked for it, now have become rigorous in demanding proper proof
of medical necessity.

While the Bush administration cracks down, other nations are going
California's way. In recent months, Canada has legalized medical marijuana,
the British government is decriminalizing recreational pot use, and the
Netherlands adopted a law to allow pharmacies to fill government-subsidized
medical marijuana prescriptions.

In the United States, medical marijuana's legal twilight zone will continue
until Congress clarifies the matter. Bay Area lawmakers Reps. Nancy Pelosi,
Lynn Woolsey, Zoe Lofgren and Pete Stark, co-sponsors of legislation to
allow states to legalize medical marijuana. The bill, HR2592, is probably
dead on arrival because of the current political climate. But sooner or
later, a sober, nationwide debate must begin.