NO SINNERS UNDER LAW

Oregonians approved the state's medical marijuana law way back in
1998, giving those who would benefit from the drug the right to obtain
a physician's prescription for it. While the law has problems, it did
not, as the Governor's Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse seems to
believe, create a new class of "sinners" ripe for being taxed to fund
social programs.

Supporters of the initiative petition that put the law in place argued
that marijuana can be an effective tool in fighting the nausea that
accompanies chemotherapy, the muscle spasms that can come with
multiple sclerosis, the pain that is part of glaucoma. It can, in
other words, make life bearable for those suffering long-term health
problems. Oregonians bought the argument and approved the initiative
by a 100,000-vote margin in November 1998.

The law does have its problems. Those who seek to use marijuana under
it must obtain a license from the state of Oregon before doing so, a
move that requires a doctor's certification that the would-be licensee
will benefit from it. Those certifications have, on occasion, been
laughably easy to get, and some doctors have come mighty close to
making a cottage industry of the process. That, we suspect, was not at
all what voters had in mind.

At the same time, they clearly did not intend to label those who use
marijuana for medical reasons "sinners." In fact, the statute itself
says in its opening sentences that marijuana must be "treated like
other medicines." It's a message the governor's council apparently has
yet to receive.

That's the only conclusion that can be drawn from the council's
recommendation to increase the fee for a medical marijuana license by
half and then use the extra money collected to beef up the state's
drug abuse prevention, treatment and recovery programs. That money
would be pooled with money raised by increasing taxes on beer, wine
and hard liquor. The latter three plus the tax on cigarettes are, of
course, the traditional "sin" taxes that voters tend to approve
because those using the substances in question are somehow morally
weak.

If the state is going to get into the business of declaring users of
legal medical prescriptions sinners and then taxing them as a result,
it has plenty of fertile ground. Birth control pill users could be
taxed to pay for anti-teen pregnancy campaigns on the theory that sex
outside of marriage is a sin. Users of such anti-depressants as Prozac
could be taxed to fund mental health services because, after all, some
mental health problems are the result of some personal weakness. You
get the idea.

A better plan would be to treat medical marijuana and those who use it
as Oregonians and the law intended. The governor's council should drop
this silly fundraising scheme and move on.