REEFER SANITY

WASHINGTON -- In an act of merciful sanity, the Obama administration has
made good on its promise to stop interfering with states that allow the
medical use of marijuana.

Clink-clink, hear-hear, salud, cheers, et cetera, et cetera.

The announcement from Attorney General Eric Holder surely comes as a relief
to the many who rely on cannabis to ease suffering from various ailments.
This new, relaxed approach doesn't let drug traffickers off the hook. It
merely means that 14 states that now provide for some medical marijuana
uses no longer need fear federal raids on dispensaries and users operating
under state law.

It's a good move, long overdue. But is it enough? Not quite.

The debate over whether Americans ought to have the right to be stupid --
or to make other people seem more interesting -- continues apace after 40
years of the (failed) "war on drugs." Arguments for and against
decriminalization of some or all drugs are familiar by now. Distilled to
the basics, the drug war has empowered criminals while criminalizing
otherwise law-abiding citizens and wasted billions that could have been
better spent on education and rehabilitation.

By ever-greater numbers, Americans support decriminalizing at least
marijuana, which millions admit to having used, including a couple of
presidents and a Supreme Court justice. A recent Gallup poll found that 44
percent of Americans favor legalization for any purpose, not just medical,
up from 31 percent in 2000.

The highest level of support, not surprisingly, is in the Western states
and among self-described liberals, with 78 percent of liberals favoring
decriminalization. But the shift toward a more-sensible national policy is
no longer confined to the left. Nor is the long-haired stoner the face of
the pro-pot lobby. Today's activist, more likely, doesn't have facial hair,
but she does have kids.

Lately to the smallish conservative crowd, notably once led by
anti-prohibitionist William F. Buckley, is Jessica Corry of Colorado, a
married, pro-life Republican mom, soon to be "freedom fighter of the month"
in High Times magazine.

Recent partakers undoubtedly will have to rub their eyes for a double take
when they spot Corry, who spoke last month at a NORML conference (National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) in San Francisco, wearing an
American flag lapel pin, a triple strand of pearls and a gold marijuana
leaf pin. Another day, another stereotype in the dust bin.

In addition to writing and speaking to end marijuana prohibition, Corry,
who does not smoke pot, is trying to organize Republican women around the
cause. So far, she has commitments from 20 fellow Coloradoans, most of them
lawyers, like Corry. Her husband, also an attorney, represents medical
marijuana users.

Corry's arguments focus not only on the inhumanity of further punishing
sick people who seek relief through pot, but also on protecting her own
children should they decide to try marijuana someday. There's nothing like
imagining one's own children as "criminals" to put irrational laws in
perspective.

Corry is hardly alone. In its October issue, Marie Claire magazine featured
"Stiletto Stoners" about accomplished career women who prefer to relax with
pot. A September Fortune story, "Is pot already legal?" examined the issue.
In April, former (2006) Miss New Jersey, Georgine DiMaria, outed herself as
a stealth marijuana user to treat her asthma.

States' rights and conservatism are old friends -- except when they're not.
While many Republicans nurse a libertarian streak, the party has been
selective in its support of federalist principles. The George W. Bush
administration refused to honor states authorizing medical uses of
cannabis, for instance, but aimed to return abortion and marriage issues to
state jurisdictions.

In a column for the Colorado Daily, Corry argued that conservative
principles of smaller government are in direct conflict with laws that try
to control what we put into our bodies. Alcohol and cigarettes -- not to
mention 700-calorie cheeseburgers -- are inarguably more harmful than a
little reefer, she wrote.

The decision not to raid dispensaries or punish people who benefit from
marijuana use, though commendable, falls short of what's needed. At the
very least, when jobs and cash are in short supply, legalizing marijuana
would seem both prudent and profitable.

In 1929, the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform led the
movement to end alcohol prohibition. Might women lead the next revolution
in personal autonomy?

Keep those flutes and snifters (and bongs?) handy.