MARIJUANA CASE MAKES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

Editor, Times-Dispatch: Kathleen Parker and William Buckley certainly make
strange bedfellows. Her straight-from-the-hip, net-it-out style is
certainly in sharp contrast to the florid (dare I say verbose?) prose of
?ber-intellectual Buckley, but psychic soulmates they are.

Both agree that the medically controlled use of marijuana for the
terminally ill is reasonable and just, but here comes the spin. Buckley
doesn't view the Supreme Court's ruling as a violation of states' rights
["With Medical Marijuana Ruling, the Ball Is in Congress' Court . . . "].
He also suggests with a wink that we treat the medical marijuana law as we
did the anti-sodomy laws (don't repeal, but don't enforce). He also seems
to have faith that Congress will have the clarity and strength to change
the law.

Ms. Parker's take is succinct, and rightfully pessimistic [" . . . As
Supremes Get Tough With the Terminally Ill"]. States' rights were
overturned, and don't hold your breath (no pun intended) for Congress to
reach a consensus and act accordingly. But the distilled opinion from both
is the same, and it is one that I share.

As a mother of teenagers, and as a pharmaceutical salesperson, I think it
seems like common sense. Advocating the use of controlled substances
(whether morphine or marijuana) for recreational use is unwise. Denying
legal and therapeutic use to terminally ill patients is unethical. As my
father-in-law is fond of saying, the problem with common sense is, it's not
too common.

Maureen Torney

Richmond