COURT ACTION VICTORY FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to take the Bush
administration's (inherited from the Clinton Administration) appeal of
a lower court decision forbidding the federal government from revoking
doctors' licenses for merely discussing the medicinal use of marijuana
with patients is a huge victory for the First Amendment rights of
doctors and the medical rights of Americans.

Furthermore, with Wisconsin's legislature about to take up the issue
of medical marijuana, the decision removes a possible impediment to
patient access to medical marijuana. Lawmakers should follow their
constituents overwhelming support and legalize this therapy, by
removing the fear of federal retribution from state doctors who would
recommend marijuana to patients.

The Bush Administration's morally bankrupt position is summed up in a
comment by Solicitor General Theodore Olson in court papers: "The
provision of medical advice -- whether it be that the patient take
aspirin or vitamin C, lose or gain weight, exercise or rest, smoke or
refrain from smoking marijuana -- is not pure speech. It is the
conduct of the practice of medicine. As such, it is subject to
reasonable regulation."

The truth is, there is nothing reasonable in denying medicine to sick
people. There is also nothing reasonable about a federal regulation
that would gag doctors from even discussing marijuana while allowing
virtually any other therapy, no matter how toxic or dangerous.
Marijuana is an effective, safe and nontoxic natural substance that
should not be withheld from those who can benefit from using it.

The Bush Administration's decision to appeal this case all the way to
the Supreme Court demonstrates how low federal authorities are willing
to stoop, even trashing the Bill of the Rights, in their cruel and
irrational war to keep medicinal pot from sick and dying American patients.

Gary Storck

Director of communications

Is My Medicine Legal YET?

Madison