Medical Marijuana

COURT RULING HONORS PROMISE TO HELP PEOPLE WHO ARE ILL

Six years ago, state voters agreed that people who are suffering from
cancer, AIDS and other life-threatening diseases should be allowed the
relief provided by marijuana.

But rules governing medical marijuana remain, well, a hash. Blame the
failure of the state Legislature to provide clear guidelines, and the
federal government's determination to thwart the will of the voters of
California and eight other states.

In an important ruling, a federal court last week told the federal
government it had no right to prevent a physician from helping sick
patients. Three justices of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that
the government could not revoke the prescription drug licenses of doctors
who recommend marijuana to patients who are suffering, nor could the
Department of Justice investigate doctors who recommended marijuana. Chief
Circuit Judge Mary Schroeder stated what is obvious to everyone outside the
Justice Department: "An integral component of the practice of medicine is
the communication between doctor and a patient.

Physicians must be able to speak frankly and openly to patients." Consider
the position of the federal government in this matter: Because federal law
prohibits the use of marijuana and Congress will not change the law to
provide for the limited use of medical marijuana, the government finds
itself denying relief from pain and nausea to people who are desperately ill.

One wonders if anyone in Washington ever considers the cruelty and
inhumanity of this policy that refuses to distinguish between recreational
drugs and medical need.