SMOKIN' THE STATES' RIGHTS

U.S. Government Must Back Off And Let States Decide On The Use Of
Medical Marijuana

The opposition to medicinal use of marijuana seems to be a mainstay in
the political pipe of Uncle Sam. Despite a report from a federal
advisory panel, the Institute of Medicine, showing evidence that
smoking marijuana can help fight pain and nausea associated with
numerous diseases, the U.S. government is not satisfied. Instead the
Justice Department is challenging voter-approved laws in several
states that legalize use of marijuana for medical reasons. We believe
the states, not the federal government, are in the best position to
determine what is best for their own constituents when it comes to the
use of marijuana.

Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Oregon and Washington all have
statutes approving marijuana as a legal prescription drug. These
states allowed the people to vote on the use of marijuana. Much like
obscenity laws, the courts and the federal government should defer to
local community standards to be the litmus test for what is and what
is not appropriate use of marijuana.

So why should the federal government step in and try to determine what
is best when the people of these states have already spoken?

The real problem here is that the federal government is paranoid of a
snowball effect. As soon as you allow one drug to become legal, the
rest will surely follow.

The federal government cannot allow the states to have carte blanche
in drug matters because approving the use of certain drugs violates
U.S. domestic and foreign policy. It is hard to get other countries to
follow your lead when you can't control your own country. Despite the
predictions that legalizing marijuana for medical use would cause a
surge in its overall use, officials have not been able to show
evidence of it.

Of course there are some technical issues that still need to be
resolved. For example, in the state of Washington, the law limits
patients to a 60-day supply of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Most
doctors are having a hard time determining what constitutes enough of
the plant for each patient based on his or her disease. The state is
working very hard to develop guidelines for which diseases can be
treated with marijuana.

But this is a work in progress. The benefits to the patients in need
of this drug outweigh the logistic and administrative problems
associated with its legalization.

The federal government should allow the states to handle the details
of a solution mandated by the people.