MEDICAL POT GETS ITS DAY IN COURT

Marijuana:A Federal Suit Will Be Fascinating To Watch, But Those Who Need
Medical Marijuana Don't Need The Intrusion.

The legality of medical marijuana is now in the courts, and we think the
matter will climb all the way to the Supreme Court before it's over.

A federal court trial in San Jose is under way. The city and county of
Santa Cruz have filed suit against Attorney General John Ashcroft and the
Drug Enforcement Administration over a raid on a Davenport-area marijuana farm.

At issue is the legality of growing marijuana to help those who are
seriously ill or dying. These people -- as well as some doctors -- say
marijuana use helps ease symptoms of serious diseases and chronic conditions.

But federal law holds marijuana use is illegal.

We agree marijuana ought to be illegal to the general public, but like a
majority of Californians, we also believe its use ought to be allowed for
those in need of symptom relief. Many other drugs are illegal for general
use -- like morphine -- but are in wide use as part of medical treatment.

Many residents of Santa Cruz County are frustrated by the insistence of
federal agents to go after those growing marijuana for medical use, like
Valerie and Michael Corral, operators of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana. It was their farm that was raided in September.

But this lawsuit may end up winning approval for medical marijuana. Even
with the passage of a state ballot measure legalizing medical marijuana,
federal law still holds that using and possessing the drug is illegal.

Attorney Gerald Uelmen, a law professor at Santa Clara University and
renowned trial lawyer, is heading up a legal team that's taking the issue
to the federal courts. The team's lawyers are arguing the legal issues are
more complicated than the federal government has argued: that federal law
trumps local and state laws.

But Uelmen has cited a number of other legal arguments, including that the
U.S. Constitution could allow medical marijuana under two sections: the
10th Amendment, which grants states powers not exercised by the federal
government, and the 14th Amendment, which provides the right of due process.

Also, the federal government should not be allowed to take from a medical
patient the right to "control the circumstances of their own deaths," in
the words of Uelmen.

The federal government has said it's acting in patients' behalf, because it
is protecting them from hucksters touting marijuana as an alternative to
medical treatment.

But Uelmen says that argument doesn't fly because terminal patients don't
use marijuana as an alternative. Rather, it's a supplement to standard
treatment. Indeed, marijuana use cuts the suffering caused by chemotherapy.

The case is a fascinating one. And it's an important one. We see no reason
for the federal government to increase the suffering of sick people.
Unfortunately, by the time the case runs its course, some of those sick
people will have died. And the shame of it is that they were harassed at a
time when they were most vulnerable.