MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE: A DECISION FOR THE DOCTORS

The Supreme Court's decisions are usually viewed as the last word on a
matter, but the justices' unanimous ruling on medical marijuana may,
in time, be seen as an early chapter in this particular tale.

Because Monday's 8-0 decision focused on a narrow and specific
question dealing with a federal appeals court's reading of federal
law, it did not, in fact, invalidate medicinal marijuana laws
currently in place in eight states.

States can, if they so choose, continue to look the other way when it
comes to deciding whether to prosecute those who use marijuana on a
doctor's recommendation. And the federal government rarely pursues
marijuana users.

The Supreme Court, so often sharply divided in cases ranging from the
Florida recount to federalism to police powers, was able to speak with
one voice on the issue before it. Because federal law lists marijuana
as a "Schedule I" drug under the Controlled Substances Act, it has no
accepted medical use, the court ruled.

But for some seriously ill patients suffering from AIDS, cancer,
multiple sclerosis and other diseases, smoking marijuana has been the
only relief from the symptoms of their diseases or treatments.

The solution to this problem is easy and obvious: Congress should
reclassify marijuana, allowing for its use when prescribed by a physician.

The high court's ruling comes at a time when the nation has been
increasingly involved in a debate over the direction of its drug
policy in general - treatment versus incarceration - and the overall
efficacy of the two-decade war on drugs.

Some, no doubt, will try to cloud the issue, arguing that allowing for
the medicinal use of marijuana will be opening a door that will never
be closed, and that those who champion the legalization of marijuana
will be one step closer to their ultimate goal.

But the matter of medicinal marijuana is, in the end, a health issue,
not a debate about drug policy.

Only the most rabid anti-drug crusaders ignore the growing body of
evidence that marijuana, to use just one example, relieves nausea for
cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Nearly everyone would agree that a patient's care should be in the
hands ofa physician, not a politician.

But for that to be the case, the politicians must first get involved
by removing marijuana from "Schedule I" of the Controlled Substances
Act.

The efforts of the several states to provide medical marijuana to
seriously ill patients have been made by looking with compassion
beyond the hysteria surrounding any talk about marijuana.

It's time for the federal government to do the same.