OBAMA SHOULD REVERSE BUSH POLICIES

When Charles Lynch asked officials for permission to sell an herbal
medicine in the central California town of Morro Bay, they granted it
to him - even though the medicine was marijuana.

That's because marijuana recommended by a doctor has been legal in
California since 1996. A dozen other states have passed similar laws.

So Charlie applied for a business license, joined the Chamber of
Commerce, talked to lawyers and even called the Drug Enforcement
Administration before opening his medical marijuana dispensary with a
grand ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Unfortunately for Charlie, none of this prevented him from being
arrested in March 2007 when federal authorities raided his home and
small business. That's because the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in
Gonzalez v. Raich in 2005 that in the issue of medical marijuana,
federal law trumps the states.

"Today's decision," crowed Bush's drug czar, John Walters, at the
time, "marks the end of medical marijuana as a political issue."

Well, not quite.

President Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that the
Justice Department will stop raiding marijuana dispensaries in
California and other states that allow medical marijuana. But that
doesn't help Charlie, whose sentencing is set for March 23. Lynch,
who tried to conduct his business as openly and legally as possible
under the laws enacted by Californians, is one of the more poignant
examples of nonviolent offenders arrested and jailed by federal raiders.

Putting the brakes on medical marijuana raids is only one small step
of the many that still need to be taken toward a sensible drug policy
after years of backpedaling by President Bush.

Faced with a long list of thorny issues, Obama has decided to take
them on all at once while his honeymoon lasts. While he's at it, he
needs to modernize federal policy on the medicinal use of marijuana.

Since 1971, marijuana has been classified as a "Schedule I" narcotic,
meaning it has no medical value. That's the same category as heroin.
And as if that's not goofy enough, that would suggest marijuana is
more dangerous than crack cocaine, a Schedule II drug that no one in
the sane world describes as more dangerous than pot.

Yet that's the kind of thinking that gave a green light for the DEA
to terrorize growers, providers, caregivers and patients with
hundreds of commando-style raids. At least 90 major raids have been
conducted by DEA agents in California, according to the Marijuana
Policy Project, which advocates legalization of medicinal marijuana.

The Bush administration justified the federal crackdown against the
medicinal use of marijuana as a way to stop some people from abusing
the drug - as if some people didn't abuse every type of drug, legal
or otherwise.

In fact, the same rationale was used to justify alcohol prohibition a
century ago.

That didn't work out so well, either.

Walters, like the drug czars before him, argued that the law must
rely on scientific research, "not popular opinion."

Yet 10 years after a study commissioned by President Bill Clinton's
administration found medical value in smoked marijuana, the Bush
experts say that's not enough.

President Obama recently reversed much of what has been called the
Bush administration's "war against science." He needs to turn around
the war against medicinal marijuana research, too.