FEDERAL BAN ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA MIGHT BE UP IN SMOKE

Eleven months ago, Congress decided that it would be imprudent to
release the voting results of Initiative 59, legislation that would
allow patients of Washington, D.C. to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Although unofficial exit polls show that the voting population was 2-1
in favor of the initiative, the official results have still not been
made public.

Initiative 59 is one of many pieces of legislation, all at the state
level, that give some comfort to those who fear imprisonment for their
use of medical marijuana.

Its California counterpart Proposition 215 passed in 1996, allowing
patients with serious illnesses to obtain and use marijuana at their
doctors' recommendation without being prosecuted under state law.

Proposition 215 has the same problem that Initiative 59 had,
though-the bureaucrats in Washington. The Justice Department
immediately responded to the Proposition, claiming that the federal
ban on marijuana distribution overrode the voter's wishes.

Since then, numerous patients have been prosecuted for medical use of
marijuana, including a candidate for governor and his wife.

At least the checks and balances system of our government still has
hope. Monday, a federal appeals court told a California judge to
consider exempting patients and doctors who could show "medical
necessity" from federal penalties.

While the court did not order the exception, it said there was enough
evidence to justify it. So, even in the face of federal penalties,
Californian medical marijuana users who can show that they have a
legitimate need for medical marijuana may soon have less to hide from.

Why does the Justice Department need a judge to tell it that
prosecuting sick patients does more harm to them than their use of
marijuana as medicine? We at the Daily Vidette feel that the Justice
Department would do a much more effective job fighting crime if they
went after real criminals and not medical marijuana users.

We believe that the Justice Department should keep their noses out of
state legislation, especially when it concerns the well-being of that
state's citizens.