POT'S CATCH-22 ON THE DOCKET

High Court Should OK Patient Use.

Eight years ago, 56 percent of California voters approved Proposition 215,
allowing sick people to use marijuana for medical purposes when approved by
a physician. In all, 35 states have approved similar legislation.

The only problem is that the federal government still outlaws the use of
marijuana, for any reason, which has created enormous legal headaches for
sick individuals, doctors and law enforcement.

Fortunately, the legal Catch-22 will be addressed this winter when the U.S.
Supreme Court at last considers whether the federal government can
prosecute sick people who use marijuana on the advice of their doctor.

The Star supported Proposition 215 and hopes the Supreme Court rules for
common sense.

There is no reason that doctors can legally prescribe controlled substances
such as cocaine and morphine -- Schedule II drugs -- but not marijuana -- a
Schedule I drug.

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 -- the government's legal foundation
in its fight against drug abuse -- places all substances into one of five
schedules, based on the substance's medical use, potential for abuse, and
safety or dependence liability. A Schedule I drug is defined as having a
high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use in treatment in the
United States, or lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.

A Schedule II drug also has a high potential for abuse, but has an accepted
medical use.

Marijuana does, in fact, have an accepted medical use, as confirmed by a
1999 yearlong study by the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of
Science, ordered by none other than former federal drug czar Barry
McCaffrey. That study concluded that marijuana may be effective in easing
chronic pain, nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, poor appetite,
wasting caused by AIDS or advanced cancer, and muscular spasms associated
with multiple sclerosis.

The study also rebutted arguments that allowing the medicinal use of
marijuana would lead to the use of other illegal drugs or encourage the
public to use it.

Sadly, the discussion of how marijuana is categorized is not based on
science, but on the federal government's illogical, "just-say-no" mind-set.

The U.S. government has gone to extreme lengths to thwart the will of
residents in 35 states who have authorized the medical use of marijuana.

From 1997 until October 2003, for example, doctors who even discussed
marijuana with their patients were threatened with the revocation of
federal licenses they need to prescribe medicine.

However, in October, the Supreme Court let stand a 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals ruling that doctors have a constitutional right to advise ill
patients about the benefits of marijuana.

Now, the Bush administration is appealing a case it lost last year
involving two California women who say they need marijuana for their
health. One plaintiff, Angel Reich, 38, of Oakland, suffers from a brain
tumor, scoliosis and chronic nausea, and her doctor has recommended
marijuana for her treatment.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in their favor in December
saying that the federal law outlawing marijuana does not apply to people
who are using marijuana upon the recommendation of their doctor.

Most Americans don't like the idea of sick people being prosecuted for
using something their doctors recommend and which the government's own
study has admitted has a valid medicinal use.

It is time for the Supreme Court to square state and federal laws and to
get the U.S. government to stop harassing sick people.