ADMINISTRATION FINALLY BEGINS TO BRING SANITY TO REEFER DEBATE

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.

The announcement from Attorney General Eric Holder surely comes as a
relief to many who rely on cannabis to ease suffering from various
ailments. This new 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.

It's a good move, but not quite enough.

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 about decriminalization 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.

By ever-greater numbers, Americans support decriminalizing at least
marijuana, which millions admit to having used. 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.

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.

Corry, who does not smoke pot, is a lawyer. 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.

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 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?