MARIJUANA BILL ON SHAKY LEGAL GROUND

Why pass a state law that exposes sick to possible federal arrest? A
proposed state law to allow the sick to use marijuana to relieve their
symptoms is well intentioned but fraught with pitfalls that could
ultimately cause patients more distress than relief.

Advertisement Possession and use of marijuana is a state crime. The
bill the legislature is considering would carve out an exemption. It
would allow people 18 and older to grow marijuana for their personal
use if they had a condition diagnosed by a doctor, such as nausea from
chemotherapy or glaucoma, that use of marijuana might alleviate.

Eleven other states have passed similar laws.

The problem for Connecticut and other states is that marijuana use is
a federal crime. There is no exemption for its medical use.

The issue was definitely settled in 2005 when the U.S. Supreme Court
held that the sick who used marijuana in states where it is legal may
still be prosecuted under federal drug laws.

The California woman who fought and lost her appeal of the federal
drug law that went to the Supreme Court has now lost a second ruling.
A federal appellate court has held that even the terminally ill who
use marijuana to alleviate their symptoms may be prosecuted.

In states like California, where medical marijuana is legal,
prosecutions have not been widespread, but they do occur.

If the legislature passes this bill, it will present patients and
their physicians with a choice, another treatment alternative at the
risk of arrest. Criminal charges do not ordinarily fall within
medicine's scope. It is an unfair burden to place on the ill or their
doctors. Connecticut should wait until federal policy changes. Until
then, patients should stick with legal drugs and therapy to alleviate
their symptoms.