Our View

MARIJUANA'S LEGALITY

Hayden medicinal marijuana user Don Nord has become something of a celebrity.

A quick Google search last week on "Don Nord" and "marijuana" revealed
about 4,670 hits on sites such as Overgrow.com, Freedom to Exhale, Cannabis
News and NORML, as well as news sites including CNN and Fox News.

Just a few months ago, before the Oct. 14 raid by officers working for the
federal government, it's doubtful the same Internet search would have
returned any hits.

Nord seems an unlikely candidate for fame and notoriety. He is 57 and lives
on a fixed income. He has diabetes. He has battled kidney cancer, lung
disease and phlebitis. He pays his attorney, Kris Hammond, a $100 monthly
retainer.

Nord's case is the latest in a national dispute between federal and state
laws regarding marijuana. Whether he gets back the 2 ounces of marijuana
that federal agents seized is no longer important; determining whether
Colorado and other states have the right to implement medicinal marijuana
laws is.

In the 2000 general election, Colorado residents approved Amendment 20 by a
margin of 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent. That amendment gave those suffering
from "debilitating medical conditions" the right to register and use
marijuana for medicinal purposes. Nord is a registered medicinal marijuana
user and complied with the state law.

Eight other states -- Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada,
Oregon and Washington -- have similar laws.

But the agents working for the Grand, Routt and Moffat Narcotics
Enforcement Team, a federal task force comprised of local officers, were
complying with federal law, which classifies marijuana as a highly
addictive and illegal controlled substance. The federal law, the U.S.
Attorney's Office argues, supercedes state law, and therefore the federal
agents are under no obligation to return Nord's marijuana to him.

Ironically, the raid on Nord's home came the same day that the U.S. Supreme
Court decided it would not review the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals'
decision allowing physicians to discuss with and recommend marijuana use to
their patients. That ruling was seen as a major victory in the medicinal
marijuana battle, because some form of doctor's recommendation is central
to the state laws, including Colorado's.

But the 9th Circuit's ruling centered mostly on the doctors' right to free
speech, not the legality of medicinal marijuana. In fact, in 2001, the
Supreme Court ruled in a California case that there is no exception to
federal laws against the use, sale and distribution of marijuana,
effectively outlawing medicinal marijuana clubs.

Nord's case is now in the hands of a federal judge, who could decide to
move the case to federal court. Ultimately, the case seems to be a prime
candidate for the Supreme Court to decide.

That, we believe, would be a good thing. Unlike previous cases that have
made their way through the courts, Nord's case seems to strike directly at
the heart of the matter -- the constitutionality of a state's right to
implement a medicinal marijuana law.

The merits of medicinal marijuana aside, it seems reasonable that the
residents of Colorado should be free to comply with laws enacted by the
state and approved by its residents without fear of having their homes
raided and property seized by federal agents.

Don Nord is not a hero, but he deserves credit for having the courage to
push his case and challenge the federal government to clarify medicinal
marijuana laws. The sooner that happens, the better.