MAJOR BUZZ OVER MARIJUANA RULING

One perverse result of the medical marijuana case: In eviscerating any
meaningful check on Congress' power to intrude on the most noncommercial
and private of individual activities under the guise of "regulating
interstate commerce," the court undermines the avowed principal goal of the
federal drug control legislation it cites. The court says the goal of the
1970 Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, as applied to
marijuana, is to prohibit and eliminate interstate commerce in marijuana.
But by ruling that the act properly prohibits purely private, noncommercial
cultivation and personal use of small quantities of marijuana for medical
purposes, in compliance with state law and under the recommendation of a
doctor, the Supreme Court in effect sends those sick patients into the
illicit market. The more patients in the illicit market, the more aggregate
demand, the higher the prices, the higher the profits, and the more supply
is needed.

By ruling in line with reason and precedent that the activities of brain
tumor patient Angel Raich were indeed beyond the purview of federal
commerce authority, the Supreme Court ironically could have helped reduce
demand in the illicit interstate market in marijuana, thus accomplishing
something that federal drug policy has yet to achieve in any meaningful way.

Jeff Furchtenicht

Attorney, Santa Maria