THE WRONG WAR ON DRUGS

As Feds Go After Medical Marijuana, Ruling Protecting Doctors Who Recommend
It Is A Crucial Victory

IN the pitched battle between the federal government and the state of
California over medical marijuana, Californians won an important skirmish
this week. It couldn't have come at a better time.

The U.S. Justice Department has been stepping up its mean-spirited campaign
against the voter-approved state law permitting medical use of marijuana.
Just weeks ago agents raided a marijuana farm in Santa Cruz County, even
though it was run with the approval of the county sheriff.

But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has shut down the federal assault
on another front. It has ruled that the Justice Department can't punish
physicians for recommending marijuana to patients. The court says the
federal policy of investigating and threatening to pull the licenses of
doctors who recommend marijuana violates their First Amendment right to
free speech and intrudes on the doctor-patient relationship.

California is one of nine states that have enacted medical marijuana laws.
Research has proven pot's ability to reduce nausea and otherwise help
patients to cope with if not survive potentially deadly diseases. It is
less addictive than many drugs -- morphine comes to mind -- that are
perfectly legal to prescribe.

Average people understand this. The Justice Department, first under Bill
Clinton and now George Bush, continues a knee-jerk opposition to the
enlightened laws that voters approve.

Targeting physicians has been a key strategy by the feds not only to
undermine state marijuana laws but also to crush Oregon's Death With
Dignity law. In Oregon last April, a federal judge blocked the Justice
Department from punishing doctors for prescribing lethal doses of drugs.
That ruling has been appealed. With this week's marijuana ruling, the 9th
Circuit may have signaled its attitude toward the Oregon case as well.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that federal drug laws take precedence over
state law. That means Congress holds the ultimate authority to stop all
this costly litigation and bring reason back into our national drug policy.

Lawmakers should concentrate on fighting the drugs that are tearing apart
our inner cities and feeding gang violence. Leave AIDS and cancer patients
- -- and the doctors trying to help them -- alone.