ARIZ. COULD MAKE MEDICAL MARIJUANA REALITY

At long last, policymakers in Washington have begun to draw a line
between illicit drug use and the legitimate use of drugs as medicine.
In March, President Barack Obama's attorney general announced the
federal government will no longer prosecute medical marijuana clinics
that operate in compliance with state laws. This means lawmakers in
Phoenix are now free to decide - without interference from Washington
- - if marijuana will fill a medical niche in Arizona.

Thirteen states have already removed criminal penalties for the use
of medical marijuana and actively regulate how, with a medical
doctor's recommendation, marijuana is made available for patients
with cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, severe pain, glaucoma,
epilepsy and other chronic conditions. But until now, Washington has
disregarded these state laws. Since California legalized medical
marijuana in 1996, for example, federal agents have raided more than
100 marijuana distribution centers there.

Washington's first step

The first step has been taken with Washington's tacit acknowledgement
that closing down state-regulated marijuana clinics is a misuse of
taxpayers' money and harmful to Americans coping with serious
illnesses. Many thousands of ill people attest that smoking,
vaporizing or orally ingesting marijuana relieves pain, nausea and
other symptoms far more effectively than Marinol, a pharmaceutically
available synthetic version of marijuana.

While the federal government still officially maintains - contrary to
solid medical evidence - that marijuana has no medicinal value, at
least it has pledged not to raid medical marijuana facilities that
are sanctioned by state law.

Arizona's Next Step?

According to the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington-based
advocate for legalizing medical marijuana, Arizona currently has a
medical marijuana law on the books that allows patients to possess
marijuana if it is obtained through a valid prescription. But under
the law there is no legal supply of marijuana to fill such prescriptions.

In addition, a 2007 survey by the Marijuana Policy Project asked
registered Arizona voters if they supported an initiative to "allow
Arizona residents with cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other
serious illnesses to grow and use marijuana for medical purposes, as
long as their physician approves." Sixty-eight percent of the
respondents said they supported such an initiative.

Washington's new medical marijuana policy gives Arizona the freedom
to exercise its historic role as the primary watchdog for the health
and welfare of its citizens. Whether or not Arizona patients will be
given greater access to medical marijuana is now up to the state
Legislature or the voters.

Other Medicinal Drugs

Marijuana is not the only targeted medical drug. In all 50 states,
federal raids can still close down pain clinics and arrest pain
management physicians who prescribe large doses of opioids - highly
effective, legal painkillers made from opium or synthetics with the
properties of opiate narcotics.

Dr. Joel Hochman, director of the National Foundation for the
Treatment of Pain in Houston, says the drug-war hysteria is making it
too risky for many doctors to accept patients in chronic pain and
that, with help from the media, federal raids on so-called "pill
mills" paint a false picture that the streets are awash in drugs
carelessly handed out by unprincipled doctors.

Instead, he claims, these clinics provide last-resort care to largely
uninsured or under-insured blue-collar and other limited-income
workers, many with work-related injuries, who can only afford a
five-minute visit at high-volume, low-cost, low-profit clinics.

To stay in business these clinics must see 60 to 100 patients each
day. With this level of traffic, doctors can make errors and patients
can lie about their ailments _ making the clinics easy targets for
federal agents. But, since these clinics provide valuable medical
services, Hochman says law enforcement polices are misdirected.

His bottom line is: "Wake up America. The dope lords are making
billions. The little pain clinics in the strip shopping centers sure aren't."

Instead of getting drugs off the streets, Hochman adds that closing
down these pain clinics will "drive patients into the streets,
seeking relief from their suffering. Their choices become: score
hydrocodone off the street; score heroin off the street; drown their
pain with alcohol. No one can tolerate unrelieved pain."

What to do? "End opiophobia and fantasy-driven public policies,"
Hochman said, "and establish publicly supported clinics so every
suffering person can get relief. Confront the fact that law
enforcement agencies and prisons are all strung out on the drug
prohibition laws and need to be brought back to reality."

Here is a rare opportunity for elected officials in Arizona and in
Washington to take a long hard look at how harsh drug laws are
undermining medical care in America. For the millions of people
desperately coping with chronic ailments, let's not waste it.