A LUDICROUS PROTEST

Faced with the twin problems of honoring Colorado voters and obeying
the U.S. Supreme Court, Gov. Bill Owens and Attorney General Ken
Salazar have opted for a delicate balancing act.

They'll implement the medical-marijuana registry that was narrowly
approved by voters last November, but they'll also abide by the high
court's May ruling that the federal Controlled Substances Act makes
it a criminal act to "manufacture, distribute or dispense" the drug.
No exemption from prosecution will be sought for those who avail
themselves of the registry.

"The Supreme Court didn't say that states can't set up registries,"
says Owens. "If people choose to break the law, it's up to them
whether to register."

Like Owens and Salazar, The Post opposed the initiative creating the
registry program. Although we are critics of the wasteful and
destructive "war on drugs," and although we would support a properly
formulated program legalizing medical uses of marijuana, we found the
initiative to be a flawed, back-door solution.

At the same time, however, The Post believes that the will of
Colorado voters must be honored and that the state's highest
officials have an obligation to defend the initiative against legal
challenges. If the confusing Supreme Court opinion does leave some
opening for implementation of the Colorado program, the state has a
duty to explore that possibility.

Yesterday's Owens-Salazar announcement sets the stage for that
exploration. With the registry in place, medical-marijuana opponents
will have standing to sue to enjoin the program. At that point, the
state would defend the voter-created registry.

Although the route would be circuitous, such a challenge ultimately
might give the Supreme Court an opportunity to clarify ambiguities in
its May decision, which related specifically to California's effort
to legalize so-called marijuana "buyers' cooperatives."

Surely the medical marijuana issue needs to be directly addressed
soon, whether by the courts or Congress. At this point, as Owens and
Salazar point out, Colorado taxpayers are trapped in the ludicrous
posture of spending state resources on "what amounts to a
state-sanctioned protest vehicle against federal drug laws."