NO MEDICAL POT

A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court wasted few
words yesterday in disposing of the medical marijuana issue by
invalidating statutes in eight states, including Colorado.

The court, in a less-than-10-page decision written by Justice Clarence
Thomas, said states can't overrule the provisions of the federal
Controlled Substances Act that plainly makes it a criminal act to
"manufacture, distribute or dispense" marijuana. The law, the court
said, does not include any exceptions, except for research, an
exception that is not involved in this case.

Voters in eight states had approved ballot initiatives (Colorado just
last year) allowing for medical use of marijuana. There were some
variations in the laws, but the court's decision yesterday left no
room for any of the provisions to survive. The court essentially said
that, absent a specific medical-marijuana exemption in the federal
law, one doesn't exist and cannot be invented.

The case before the court originated in California, where proponents
of the law had claimed marijuana use was a medical necessity for a
certain class of patients. The court ruled that this issue had been
settled by Congress when it found there was no currently accepted
medical use for the drug. The court restated a principle that appears
in its prior decisions, namely that creating an exemption in the law
is a job for Congress, not the courts.

Health officials in Colorado, in common with other states, had
struggled with the touchy issue of how to write regulations that would
allow certain patients to get the drug without encouraging expanded
illegal drug traffic. Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar has said
he will shortly advise state agencies about the impact of the ruling,
which presumably would end the writing of regulations.

Proponents of medical marijuana now have one main remaining option.
They can petition Congress to modify the Controlled Substances Act in
a way that would legalize some marijuana use nationally. Had that been
an inviting option, however, medical marijuana backers would have used
it before rather than go to the trouble of passing initiatives in
individual states.

Proponents may find a ray of light in the fact that last year Congress
killed a bill that would have banned laws like that in California.
That ray of light is faint, to say the least, because the issue last
year was very narrow and the vote in no way suggests Congress is now
willing to write a medical marijuana exemption into federal law.