HANG TOUGH IN CLASH OVER POT
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

The U.S. Department of Justice has been cracking down on medical
marijuana in a way that threatens the liberties of people in states
where medical pot has been legalized. That includes Oregon.

You would think Justice has more important things to do. Clean house,
for instance. This is the agency that concocted "Fast and Furious," a
scheme to allow guns to get into the hands of suspected traffickers
for Mexican drug cartels in the hopes of catching somebody. Two of
the weapons showed up at the murder of a Border Patrol agent last December.

On medical marijuana, we have a clear conflict between states and the
federal government. Congress continues to classify marijuana as
illegal. But states such as Oregon and California have said it's OK
for medical uses.

Instead of confronting the states, the government picks on little
people. In California, federal prosecutors have threatened to
confiscate the property of people who rent to marijuana outlets. And
in Oregon's Jackson County, federal agents have mounted three recent
raids against growers of medical pot.

The conflict could be solved by Congress. It should exempt medical
marijuana from the federal prohibition.

Or, if it felt courageous and unusually sensible some day, Congress
could go all the way and end the federal prohibition against this
common weed. That would leave the states free to make their own laws,
and if the voters have anything to say about it, as in Oregon,
marijuana's appeal as the forbidden fruit would be a thing of the past.

It is incomprehensible how the U.S. Supreme Court could have upheld
- -- as it did in 2005 -- the federal prosecution of home-grown
marijuana even in states that have legalized it. The court has said
privacy rights protect the decision of a citizen to have her unborn
baby killed, but there is no privacy protection for growing a plant?
Talk about a system that is upside down.

The Oregon legislature may tackle this issue in 2013. Sound arguments
can be made for decriminalizing pot all the way. Let us see if our
lawmakers are willing to challenge the government by taking such a
decisive step.