EASING OUR WAY TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS HUMANE, NOT CYNICAL

RE "MARIJUANA genome: Fighting cancer, dude" (Editorial, Aug.
20): Rarely mentioned in the debate over the legal status of this
plant, valued since the dawn of agriculture for its nutritious seeds,
durable fiber, medicinal qualities, and, yes, its ability to alter
consciousness, are the constitutional limits on the power of the state.

The federal and state prohibition of cannabis exceeds those limits.
Such unconstitutional laws do not bind in conscience, though they may
be obeyed out of fear.

It is humane, not cynical, to seek to free those who would use it as
medicine from the dangers of the black market on our way to
constitutionally reasonable regulation of the cultivation and commerce
in cannabis.

Steven S. Epstein

Georgetown