HOW CONGRESS CAN QUICKLY STRIKE A BLOW FOR COMMON SENSE

WASHINGTON -- There are two areas of concern Congress needs to deal
with immediately -- marijuana as a medical tool and pharmacists who
place their religious beliefs above their licensed duty.

While these issues don't seem as pressing in the scheme of things as
democratizing Iraq or solving the long-range problems of Social
Security, resolving them quickly might just send a signal that now and
then common sense does prevail in government, a badly needed sign in
these days of prolonged squabbling over legislative procedure.

The Supreme Court decision that those who grow marijuana for their own
medical purposes can't escape federal prosecution even if their state
laws say otherwise is an insult to compassion and sensibility. In its
6- 3 vote, the court made no distinction between a homegrown relief
for pain and suffering and a truckload of commercial pot on its way to
a rock 'n' roll concert. Not even a doctor's prescription can change
that, the majority of the good justices decided.

Well, that seems reasonable. After all, it is only a short step
between easing the pain of glaucoma or helping forestall an epileptic
seizure or relieving the pressure of a brain tumor with a daily toke
and becoming an interstate dealer in reefer madness.

Because those few windowsill plants have the potential of multiplying
so rapidly they require as much attention by the Drug Enforcement
Administration as a shipload from the latest Tijuana cartel. At least,
that's the basis of the court's decision.

Having never indulged in recreational use of "funny tobacco" or any
other of the things people shove up their noses or stick in their
arms, I have little firsthand knowledge of the problem and stand to be
corrected if I am wrong. But it doesn't seem to me that there is any
difference between a prescription for the use of marijuana for pain
than one for a far more potent drug handed to me recently as result of
a kidney stone. I can guarantee that I could have gotten a heck of a
lot more on the street for that stuff than I could have for a couple
of ounces of "Mary Jane."

The court suggested Congress could fix this, taking it out of the
category of states' rights vs. federal government. The lawmakers
should do so immediately. In fact, they should find a way to
legitimize the controlled growing of small quantities of marijuana for
medical purposes just as it has for the manufacture of other
substances even more subject to misuse. This is not in any way meant
to support the legalization of marijuana generally. Its lasting impact
on young minds and bodies is still too uncertain for that. And
although it is nearly impossible to control because it is so easily
accessible, it should not be legitimately available for any purpose
other than medical.

Equally as pressing and far simpler to resolve is the problem of
pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for items like
birth-control pills or the morning-after drug that offend their
religious sensibilities. Some even have been known to lecture the
turned-away customer with evangelical fervor about the evils of what
they are doing. Fortunately, some states have taken action to remind
these druggists that they have a licensed responsibility to fill a
legitimate prescription. There are bills in both houses of Congress
already that would make this mandatory under federal law.

What a terrible mess if pharmacists had the right to refuse to honor a
doctor's orders because they didn't agree philosophically or
metaphysically. Those who receive the state's blessings to dispense
drugs have an absolute obligation to do so without questioning the
reasons unless they suspect that the prescription was illegally
obtained or there is a pattern of abuse by the doctor. Certainly
putting one's religious beliefs ahead of that duty is outrageous and
those who feel otherwise should let their licenses expire and get out
of the business.

Being an anti-abortion-rights druggist doesn't give one the right to
deny service to those who disagree or to serve only those who do.
There are items like cigarettes that require no specific expertise to
dispense and that can be legitimately excluded from a drugstore's
inventory. Drugs approved by the FDA can't be. If they are, the store
is not a legitimate pharmacy and should not be advertised as one. This
is pretty simple.