EDITORIAL: HIGH TIME FOR NEW POT POLICY

Ed Thompson did Wisconsin and the nation a great service when he used a
high-profile visit with his brother, Health and Human Services Secretary
Tommy Thompson, to deliver a letter asking the federal government to ease
restrictions on medical marijuana.

The letter hand-delivered by Ed Thompson, the Libertarian Party's Wisconsin
gubernatorial candidate, to Tommy Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor
turned Cabinet secretary, expressed the viewpoint of the Coalition for
Compassionate Care. The group has long argued that medical patients who
might benefit from marijuana - which scientists agree can play a useful
role in treating conditions ranging from glaucoma to cancer - ought not be
forced to break the law in order to ease their pain, regain their appetite
or otherwise care for themselves.

In his letter, Ed Thompson noted that Coalition for Compassionate Care
activists have had a hard time scheduling a meeting with Department of
Health and Human Services officials. Tommy Thompson, who heads that agency,
ought to do his brother - and America - a favor and schedule such a meeting.