LET PATIENTS USE MARIJUANA

Your Nov. 7 article, "Court bars medical-necessity defense," highlights the
federal government's ridiculous position on medical marijuana.

The only way the government can convict Todd McCormick and Peter McWilliams
of marijuana charges is to deny them any ability to discuss their medical
use. Both men benefit from their marijuana use and have the support of
their physicians.

How can U.S. District Judge George King prohibit the defendants from
referring to Proposition 215 or any mention of the medical use of
marijuana? I guess the same way that Congress refused to allow the counting
of a Washington, D.C. medical marijuana initiative that 69 percent of
voters supported.

Or the same way that the Clinton administration and the Drug Enforcement
Administration ignore the fact that voters in all seven states that have
considered marijuana as medicine have approved it.

Let the patients have their medicine. It's time to admit that making
patients suffer is not a justifiable strategy to win the drug war.

John Sajo