MEDICAL MARIJUANA: DESPITE DOUBTS, YES

We are faced with plenty of conflicting advice on the medical marijuana
initiative, Ballot Measure 67. In the face of uncertainty, the question
ought to be resolved in favor of suffering people who say that smoking
marijuana is the only thing that relieves their vomiting or pain.

Most of us are not in that unhappy boat. Most of us are not in wheelchairs,
don't have treatments for AIDS or cancer and have not been afflicted by the
various other ailments mentioned in the measure.

We do know, from the Voters' Pamphlet, that doctors are sharply divided on
the question of whether smoking marijuana does any good. Some say it's a
hoax and a scam. Others say there's something to it, and they would like
marijuana to be available to some of their patients, including people close
to death, whose pain and discomfort conventional medications have failed to
relieve.

We have the strong recommendations against the measure from law
enforcement, including Linn County Sheriff Dave Burright. These are serious
objections. The police and others dealing with troubled youngsters worry
that when marijuana is labeled as "medicine," it will be harder to dissuade
kids form picking it up. And they say it will be impossible to enforce the
law against it, condemning who knows how many young people to lives
dependent on drugs and crime.

From the language of the measure itself, it does not have to be that way.
The measure leaves the marijuana laws intact. It makes an exception only
for people whose doctors state that it might help them and who then get a
certificate from the Health Division.

The measure does have potential problems. It requires a permit from the
Health Division but then says even if you don't have a permit, you can try
the medical defense in court if you're charged. It limits the amounts of
medical marijuana a certified person may possess -up to an ounce, three
mature and four immature plants - but then says if he has more and is
caught, he can try to prove that it was medically necessary to have more.
This ambiguity may well complicate the first few cases coming before the
courts. But the courts can straighten that out with a few precedent-setting
verdicts.

Despite the worries, despite the possible complications with enforcement,
if some doctors say and patients confirm from their own experience that
marijuana can help relieve certain forms of suffering where other forms
have failed, the law should not stand in the way. (hh)