JUST SAY NO

Monday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling outlawing medicinal use of marijuana is
little more than a puff of smoke in Alabama, where marijuana is illegal,
period. Can't grow it, can't sell it, can't possess it, can't smoke it,
can't eat it - even if your physician would prescribe it.

There are endless arguments - pro and con - about medicinal use of
marijuana. There are doctors who prescribe it to patients with chronic pain
or glaucoma, and those who use it often say it works better than any other
therapy. There are those who argue that marijuana is an unregulated street
drug whose primary use is abuse. Others will argue that many prescription
medications with legitimate uses can be abused. For instance, Oxycontin, a
time-released painkiller, hooked many abusers who would crush the capsules
to deliver a full dose at once. And let's not forget that the idiots who
cook up methamphetamine have forced the regulation of common cold medicine.

What makes this week's ruling important - and dangerous - is not that it
addresses a controversial subject, but that it interferes with states'
rights: 10 states that have legalized medicinal use of marijuana will now
be out of sync with federal law.

Instead of ruling on this matter, the high court should have taken a page
from Nancy Reagan and just said no.