REEFER MADNESS

Sometimes you have to wonder what congressional Republicans have been smoking.

When residents of the District of Columbia voted last year regarding a
measure to legalize the medical use of marijuana, Congress forbade
officials even to count the ballots. A federal judge has intervened, and
the results show the initiative passed by a whopping 69 percent. Now some
Congressmen -- including Virginia's own Tom Davis -- are voicing their
intention to block implementation of the measure. That's wrong, for two
reasons.

First, growing evidence indicates that marijuana can alleviate some of the
suffering endured by persons with certain illnesses. And while the National
Academy of Sciences discourages the use of smoked marijuana for medicinal
purposes, it does so chiefly because of probable lung damage -- a
consideration of little weight to individuals suffering the ravages of
late-stage AIDS or terminal cancer.

Second, it is nothing but imperial arrogance for Congress to overturn a
referendum that passed by so broad a margin -- especially when that same
Congress is controlled by Republicans who speak frequently and at high
volume about the virtues of "devolution" and keeping the federal government
from meddling in local matters. (Four states already have passed
medical-marijuana laws.)

"It would send a terrible message to America's young people to allow [laws
against drug use] to be openly flouted," fumes Congressman Bob Barr.
Please. The medicinal use of marijuana, at the direction of a physician, no
more sends a "message" to America's young than the use of morphine in
hospitals sends a pro-heroin message. For his next comedy routine, will
Barr complain that sterilizing thermometers with alcohol amounts to an
endorsement of under-age drinking?

Liberals forever are trying to cast Republicans as heartless, unthinking,
ham-fisted Neanderthals. Knee-jerk reaction -- on the weakest of grounds --
against a measure that could alleviate pain suggests at least some in the
GOP are eager to play the role.