AN ODD COINCIDENCE?

Saturday, July 21, 2001 - The American Civil Liberties Union issued two
press releases Thursday that, taken together, seem much more than a
coincidence.

The first was the announcement that Peter Lewis, a billionaire Ohio
insurance executive, has given the ACLU its largest-ever personal gift of
$7 million. Lewis is one of the three billionaires who originally put up
millions to pass the California medical marijuana act, a measure that was
later duplicated in eight states, including Colorado. Lewis and his
colleagues have made it clear they wish to legalize marijuana and that the
medical marijuana acts are the first step toward that end.

Of the Lewis gift, $5 million is to be used to finance litigation
challenging drug laws. The ACLU is already involved in a number of cases
intended to reduce the number of people in prison for drug offenses.

The second press release detailed what the ACLU claims is a shift in public
sentiment away from what it calls the "throw-away-the-key approach" to law
enforcement. The ACLU says only small portions of the American public
believe that drug users should always be locked up. Nadine Strossen,
president of the organization, said a "majority of Americans have come to
realize that we cannot incarcerate our way out of the drug problem."

The ACLU seems to have made up its mind that it wants to go where Peter
Lewis wants to go. We are not so sure. The medical marijuana laws have
created a major unresolved legal puzzle. States, including this one,
continue to implement the laws but there is an unanswered question of when,
and if, these laws will conflict with the federal statute that makes
distribution and use of marijuana a crime. The states can duck and dodge
all they want, but sooner or later the state laws create a situation where
someone performs an act that is punishable under federal law.

For our part, we hope a U.S. attorney in one of the affected states will
soon act to clarify marijuana's legal status by filing federal charges
against a defendant. The U.S. Supreme Court has said that the California
law doesn't create a medical exemption to the federal act. That leaves
unanswered the question of whether patients and doctors who participate in
state programs can be prosecuted in federal court. We'd like to know the answer.