BOOST FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Court ruling sends a clear message to government agencies.

To all the narrow-minded and misguided government agencies from Long Beach
to Washington still persecuting medical marijuana patients, we'll put this
as succinctly as possible: Stop. It is time for you to give up this cruel
and pointless fight against good citizens who are suffering and simply
seeking relief from an effective, relatively benign and potentially free drug.

Last week's ruling from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals could not be
clearer: The federal government cannot continue prosecuting medical
marijuana patients in California and the six other states whose voters
overwhelmingly, in most cases approved propositions decriminalizing
marijuana for medicinal use. Patients are now free to grow their own or
obtain it without cost with a doctor's recommendation, something the voters
of California tried to establish seven years ago when they passed
Proposition 215.

But the nation's drug warriors, clinging to outdated, Nixon-era policies
that wrongly classify marijuana as having no medical benefit, have fought
against the will of the people at every possible turn. Enough, already.

Even the hesitant U.S. Supreme Court has begun to take the side of reason
against the federal government's cruel medical marijuana battle. In
October, the conservative court sided with the liberal 9th Circuit court to
reject one of the most draconian tactics of overzealous White House drug
warriors, who had threatened doctors with jail for suggesting that
marijuana could help some of their patients. Doctors are no longer
censored, fortunately, from providing whatever medical advice they believe
is correct.

Long Beach cases have been just as misguided as the federal government's,
though on a smaller scale. The Long Beach branch of the L.A. District
Attorney's office has arrested and aggressively prosecuted medical
marijuana patients in four cases, all but one of which were dismissed by
judges. The other was overturned on appeal.

These local cases, along with numerous federal ones, have amounted to a
complete waste of court resources, police time and taxpayer money. One
involved a disabled septuagenarian veteran who was arrested after growing
some immature plants with a doctor's recommendation. The man was forced to
pay attorneys' fees in more than two dozen court appearances while the case
was tried, refiled and dismissed three times. Since the plants were
immature, he hadn't even smoked any of them.

The government's battles against medical marijuana have always been
pointless and cruel, but now, with terrorism and street crime increasing,
it is an irresponsible and dangerous waste of resources.

The federal court has now established parameters for Proposition 215. It is
time past time for local and federal governments to finally uphold the will
of voters and let sick people grow, possess and use marijuana for medical
purposes without fear of prosecution.