MEDICAL MARIJUANA

America's battle against terrorism is supposed to be eating up the Justice
Department's time and resources. You'd never know it by the federal
government's renewed assault on California's voter-approved law on medical
marijuana.

Drug agents in October raided the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, one
of California's biggest suppliers of medical marijuana to the seriously
ill. Earlier, two dozen officers seized hundreds of plants at one of the
club's marijuana gardens in Ventura County.

Marijuana is an illegal drug, but it merits an exemption from the federal
Controlled Substances Act when used to help sick people. Smoking marijuana
alleviates pain and nausea and stimulates appetite in many patients.

Recognizing that, Californians, five years ago, passed Proposition 215. It
allows the medical use of marijuana by patients suffering from cancer, AIDS
and other serious illnesses. Voters in other states -- including Arizona,
Nevada, Oregon and Washington -- have approved compassionate measures that
permit the drug's use on a doctor's recommendation.

Unfortunately, Proposition 215 was marred from the start because it didn't
say how patients were supposed to get the drug. Advocates created "buyers
clubs" to serve that purpose -- and provided ready targets for the feds.

The federal government didn't want to risk hauling patients off to jail.
California juries wouldn't be so cruel as to punish the seriously ill for
relying on marijuana.

Last spring, though, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the federal
government in a case involving whether an Oakland club could distribute
marijuana. But nothing in the court's decision invalidated Proposition 215.
The justices never addressed directly whether a patient's possession and
use of the drug are illegal.

There may be alternative ways to get marijuana into the hands of the sick.
The justices, staunch advocates of states' rights, would have a harder time
knocking down state-run programs to provide the drug.

Americans for Medical Rights, the Santa Monica-based group that promoted
Proposition 215, may try to put an initiative to do that on the ballot in
Arizona, Oregon or Washington. The organization says another ballot measure
in California would be too costly.

But lawmakers in Sacramento could save medical marijuana advocates any
expense. In fact, it's their obligation to the voters to act.

Proposition 215 still is on the books. California legislators have the
legal and moral responsibility to try to implement it.

First up should be a bill to establish a state-controlled network to
distribute marijuana for medical uses.