PRUDENT DRUG POLICY

People who criticized Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the nation's drug czar,
for his determination to enforce the nation's drug laws in every
respect, revealed a lack of understanding about how the system works.

McCaffrey's agency, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, had
commissioned a study to examine possible medical uses for marijuana.
The researchers indicated that the drug could be used to ease pain and
combat nausea in certain situations. However, the researchers
cautioned, further research is needed.

McCaffrey said he would look at the results. They appeared to say, he
suggested, that one or more chemicals contained in marijuana might be
medically useful, though smoking was not the way to make use of them.
Some people have criticized him for his caution. But he could hardly
do differently.

If more studies were to confirm the conclusions drawn by the Institute
of Medicine, if pharmaceutical manufacturers find practical ways to
make the chemicals available, if the medical community agrees this
course is wise and if Congress Massages the laws accordingly, then of
course McCaffrey's office would have to change its policies, too.

But McCaffrey has no power to repeal the law. His job is to enforce
the laws that Congress and the president have enacted to protect the
public from dangerous drugs. When he refuses to make an exception for
those who say they must have marijuana for medical reasons, he is only
doing what he must in this democratic system of government.