FEDS SILLY ON MEDICINAL POT

Recently I underwent minor knee surgery. For the post-operative pain I was
given Oxycontin, a powerful narcotic related to morphine. Oxycontin has
been on the prescription drug market for about seven years. Soon after its
introduction, it became a popular recreational drug in rural America, so
much so that it acquired the moniker "hillbilly heroin."

The drug has apparently moved upmarket, as evidenced by the news that the
teenage son of rock musician and television star Ozzy Osbourne has become
addicted to the substance. Oxycontin is both quite addictive and
potentially dangerous: It's estimated that in the past couple of years
several hundred people have suffered fatal overdoses from the drug.

In this regard Oxycontin is no different than various other powerful
prescription painkillers. Unfortunately, drugs that offer effective relief
from severe pain are almost always both physically addictive and easy to
ingest in fatal quantities.

A pain reliever that has neither of these disadvantages is marijuana.
Marijuana has none of the addictive qualities of powerful narcotics such as
Oxycontin and Percoset, nor is it possible to overdose on the drug. In
addition, many people suffering extreme pain from illnesses such as cancer
report that smoking marijuana provides more effective relief for them than
prescription narcotics.

In the past few years, California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Maine,
Hawaii and Nevada have all given doctors the legal right to prescribe
marijuana for patients who would benefit from this comparatively harmless
pain reliever. In an outburst of disgusting hypocrisy that ought to make
even the most cynical drug warrior blush, the Bush administration has
followed in the Clinton administration's footsteps by continuing to use
federal government power and money to override state sovereignty on this issue.

The DEA and the Justice Department are persecuting doctors that prescribe
medical marijuana, even though these doctors have every right to do so
under the laws of the states in which they practice. In an effort to stop
this abuse of federal power, a bipartisan congressional coalition, led by
Reps. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., Ron Paul,
R-Texas, and Sam Farr, D-Calif., managed to get the House of
Representatives to vote on an amendment that would have prevented the DEA
and the Justice Department from spending federal tax dollars to raid and
prosecute medical marijuana patients and providers.

Although the amendment was defeated by a vote of 273-152, the mere fact
that one house of Congress actually voted on this issue is an important
step forward. Two-thirds of House Democrats voted to end the federal
government's refusal to abide by state medical marijuana laws. This mirrors
the percentage of the American public who support medical marijuana.
Fifteen brave Republican House members resisted the enormous pressure put
on them by their leadership and the White House by voting to uphold
principles of states rights that the Bush administration likes to invoke on
a selective basis.

This is far from the end of the story. A similar bill is slated to be
introduced in the Senate later this year, and the House amendment is likely
to be voted on again next summer, when Congress will once again authorize
the Justice Department's budget.

If you oppose using your tax dollars to persecute doctors who, because of
the bizarre fixations of our drug warriors, can legally prescribe morphine
for minor surgical pain but cannot prescribe a much safer drug to relieve
the agony of terminal cancer patients, let your elected representatives
know. Of all the excesses and absurdities of the drug war, the federal
government's persecution of medical marijuana is perhaps the most barbaric
and indefensible.