SCIENCE-BASED POLICY NOT JUST A PIPE DREAM

When Charles Lynch asked for permission to sell an herbal medicine in
Morro Bay, Calif., local officials gave it to him, although 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 Lynch 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.

Unfortunately for Lynch, 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 vs. Raich in
2005 that on the issue of medical marijuana, federal law trumps the
states.

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

Well, not quite. President Barack 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 Lynch, whose sentencing is set for March
23.

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 Bush.

Faced with a long list of thorny issues, Obama's 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.
Stopping the raids in states where it's legal is good for starters.
He also needs to lift what has amounted to a ban on scientific research.

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.

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.