LAWMAKERS NEED TO LISTEN UP

In the national debate over the use of marijuana for medical
purposes, ordinary people and their representatives in Congress seem
to be living on different planets.

Poll after poll shows Americans, by a huge majority, want their
doctors, not lawmakers, to decide if marijuana should be used as a medicine.

Today, however, federal laws prohibit physicians from prescribing
marijuana for pain relief even where state and local laws say it is
OK to do so. This has not always been the case.

"For most of American history, growing and using marijuana was legal
under both federal law and the laws of individual states," according
to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, an arm of
the U.S. Congress. "From 1850 to the early 1940s cannabis was
included in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia as a recognized medicinal. (But)
its decline in medicine was hastened by the development of aspirin,
morphine and other opium-derived drugs, all of which helped to
replace marijuana in the treatment of pain."

In both 2003 and 2005 Gallup polls asked, "Would you favor or oppose
making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe to reduce
pain and suffering?" In 2003, 75 percent said they would favor it.
And in 2005, 78 percent favored it.

Apparently members of Congress don't read the polls these days, nor
do they care much about state laws. In 12 states -- though not
Wisconsin -- laws already give doctors the power to decide on
marijuana for pain.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., last year introduced a bill "to provide
for the medical use of marijuana in accordance with the laws of the
various states," and to prohibit the federal government from stopping
"an individual from obtaining and using marijuana from a prescription
or recommendation by a physician for medical use." The bill is stuck
in the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Since a federal bill allowing states to regulate the medical use of
marijuana can't make it to the House floor for an up or down vote, an
alternative strategy is to attach a medical marijuana amendment to a
spending bill that will reach the House floor. Last July, Rep.
Maurice D. Hinchey, D-N.Y., did just that. But the amendment was
rejected on a 264-161 vote.

In other words, while 78 percent of the Americans favor letting
doctors (and states) decide this issue, only 38 percent of the House
members favored a law supporting that policy.

Four House members from Wisconsin, including Rep. Tammy Baldwin,
D-Madison, voted for the amendment.

American democracy calls on lawmakers to be responsive to the common
sense and wisdom of ordinary citizens. Instead, some members of
Congress from Wisconsin and elsewhere are standing in the way of
existing state laws and the majority of Americans who want their
physicians, not politicians, to decide if marijuana should be used to
ease suffering in sick patients.

If these officials don't improve their hearing, voters might consider
replacing them this November with people who have better listening skills.