PUNISHING MED-POT STATES

Last week, House Democrats were outraged over a provision buried within a
41-page bill sponsored by Rep. Mark Souder (R, IN) that would have given the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) the power to cut
off important federal drug-control funding to states that have legalized the
use of medical marijuana.

Bill 2086, which renews the ONDCP for another five years, went before the
House Government Reform Committee, but an angry protest by Democrats and
medical marijuana supporters shut down the bill, and it was quickly
withdrawn before the uproar got too loud. Although federal law prohibits the
use of medical marijuana, Hawai'i and seven other states have laws that
permit it.

Other language in Souder's short-lived bill would have authorized the head
of the ONDCP -- the "drug czar" -- to use a portion of ONDCP's annual $195
million budget to campaign for partisan political purposes. Democrats
charged that this would mean that the White House could use taxpayer money
not only to influence local legislation on medical marijuana issues, but
also to influence candidates' elections.

"To take a White House Office and attempt to use it to influence local
elections … well, the implications are phenomenal," said an angry U.S. Rep.
Neil Abercrombie. "It's not only terrible policy, but more than that, I'd
consider it a campaign expenditure, and certainly illegal."

Rep. Ed Case said he was disturbed by the effects the cuts in federal funds
would have on Hawai'i's ice epidemic. This year, Hawai'i expects to receive
over $1.4 million for O'ahu alone.

"The bill was vindictive," Case told the Weekly. "It undermines the
decisions of communities that have been struggling with solutions and have
come to very reasonable conclusions in terms of medical marijuana." Case
co-sponsored the Truth in Trials Act (HR1717), one of two bills introduced
to Congress this session that seek further protections from federal
interference for those who grow, prescribe or use marijuana for medical
purposes under state law.

Souder's Bill 2086 is scheduled to be re-introduced this week, but groups
that support medical marijuana laws seem confident that the bill will not
pass without significant revisions.