MARIJUANA PARANOIA

SURELY THE federal government has better things to do than harass
desperately ill people seeking relief under their states' medical
marijuana laws. A reasoned decision by the US Supreme Court, which
yesterday heard arguments involving California's therapeutic
marijuana law, would help to regulate and monitor these programs
rather than driving them underground. Unfortunately, national and
local antidrug campaigns have discouraged reasoned thinking about most
proposals involving drugs. The government's contention that
controlled medical use of marijuana would "swell the illicit drug
market" is a good example. Morphine, far more dangerous than
marijuana, has been prescribed by doctors for years with no
corresponding surge in its availability on the street.

Eleven states from California to Montana have passed laws allowing
marijuana to be prescribed for diseases including cancer, AIDS, and
glaucoma. The active ingredient in marijuana has been shown to
relieve symtoms caused by these diseases and their treatment by
reducing nausea and vomiting and improving appetite. Angel Raich,
whose California home was raided by federal agents, suffers from an
inoperable brain tumor. Her doctors say she has tried every other
available therapy and may die without access to marijuana, which
eases pain and keeps her strength up. What possible interest can the
Bush administration have in making an example out of this woman?

The government argues that it has the right to trump state drug laws
under the commerce clause in the Constitution. But these are not
trafficking cases. The drug is not being transported across state
lines, and in the Raich case, no money even changed hands. In 1995
Justice William Rehnquist ruled in a Texas case involving gun laws
that the commerce clause does not confer unlimited power on the
federal government.

The Raich case is complicated by states' rights arguments. Alabama,
Louisiana, and Mississippi have submitted briefs supporting Raich for
reasons quite unrelated to the drug laws. The commerce clause has
been an important tool for promoting progressive federal policies
from the New Deal to civil rights. But its application has been
broadened beyond recognition when it is used to deny citizens
medically necessary care.

It would no doubt be better -- as Justice Stephen Breyer suggested
yesterday -- if Congress or federal drug and health agencies would
clarify that there should be exceptions to the drug laws for medical
marijuana. But until Congress finds the necessary backbone, states
should be allowed to develop experimental programs.

Illegal drugs have condemned thousands to lives of poverty, crime, and
despair. That is no reason to compound the suffering of the seriously
ill.