AVOID A HASTY REMEDY TO A BAD LAW

It Is Time To Allow The Use Of Marijuana For Medical Purposes.

Now illegal under federal law, there is sufficient evidence to show
the drug has value in treating illnesses. At the same time, let's be
sure reform is undertaken in an orderly manner.

A bill before the New Hampshire Senate determines, "Modern medical
research has discovered beneficial uses for marijuana in treating or
alleviating the pain, nausea and other symptoms associated with a
variety of debilitating medical conditions, as found by
the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine in 1999."
The legislative findings also conclude, "State law should make a
distinction between the medical and non-medical use of marijuana.
Hence the purpose of this act is to protect patients with
debilitating medical conditions, as well as their physicians and
designated caregiver, from arrest and prosecution, criminal
and other penalties, and property forfeiture if such patients
engage in the medical use of marijuana."

The measure is a sensible one -- one that probably should have been
enacted before this, but standing in the way has been federal law
prohibiting such medical use.

The present law gets its support from the Commerce Clause of the
U.S. Constitution, along with the Fourteenth Amendment and the
spending power of Congress that allows it to do things that affect
states. Federal law regarding marijuana had its genesis in the 1937
Marijuana Tax Act and the Controlled Substance Act was upheld by the
U.S. Supreme Court in 2005.

A broader marijuana debate has been burning for decades and it is
one in which we choose to not engage at this time. It is the
narrower discussion -- the medical use of marijuana -- that occupies
our attention.

The federal law places a barrier in the way of marijuana's
prescribed medical use, but has allowed the use of opium derivatives
for generations. Morphine and codeine have become staples in the
control of pain -- controls administered under professional and
regulatory standards.

Marijuana has been found to be useful in treating patients suffering
from cancer and other debilitating diseases, as well as relieving
such symptoms as pain, inflammation and nausea in many cases.

There are 13 states, including Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island, that
allow the medical use of marijuana with a doctor's approval or certification.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last week the Justice
Department will no longer go after small dispensaries that sell
cannabis for medical use -- not as long as those dispensaries comply
with state laws. Holder's position is one that uncomplicates the
ability of states to take a direction in which they have been
reluctant to move.

Despite Holder's stance, the federal law prohibiting the use of
marijuana for medical purposes does not go away. It's simply a law
the Justice Department will not enforce.

A bad law may be a law that should not be enforced. But to ignore
laws is not the way to bring about reform.

The Obama Administration will have a lot on its plate during the
next several months -- maybe during the next few years. Medical
marijuana reform is unlikely to occupy a high position, nor,
probably, should it.

If any water is going to be carried in support of repealing the
federal law, it will have to come from a prominent member of
Congress -- and someone not associated with a host of liberal causes.

Meanwhile, the state Senate should delay action on HB 648 -- act in
a manner that will ensure it is being sent to a committee of
conference and held over at least until the Legislature reconvenes
in January 2010, thus avoiding a hasty remedy to a bad law.