Editorial: Court decision only a small win for medical pot

The millions of Americans who are tired of the government
wasting time and resources harassing people who smoke a little pot
secured a small victory Tuesday.

Small is the important word.

The Supreme Court decided not to hear a Bush administration
appeal that would have challenged the right of a doctor to even
discuss marijuana usage with patients.

Had the Court heard the appeal and overturned the ruling of a
lower federal court, laws permitting usage of marijuana for
medicinal purposes in 10 states would have been gutted. In that
sense, the Court’s action was a victory.

But the ultimate fate of the medical marijuana issue is far from
clear.

While the lower court’s decision does protect a
doctor’s right to discuss with a patient marijuana as
medicine, it does not prohibit the federal government from
prosecuting pot users, even if a physician has recommended its use.
The court ruling does nothing to help cancer patients who take to
street corners or back alleys to buy their medicine because even
though their doctor recommends marijuana, they cannot get it from a
pharmacy or cannabis club.

After the decision not to hear the case, federal officials
““ apparently not busy enough with national security
““ promised to keep busting users.

The government just doesn’t get it.

More and more, people feel federal efforts to curb the use of
marijuana are misguided. In 1996, Californian voters passed an
initiative allowing sick people who had obtained medical permission
to use marijuana to alleviate pain. Now, nine other states have
similar laws.

People also continue to realize the folly of hard punishment for
people who use marijuana for recreational purposes. Californians
passed an initiative in 2000 calling for mandatory rehabilitation
for many drug offenders, rather than prison time. Similar
initiatives have qualified for the ballot in other states; some
have been successful, others not. But the momentum is clearly
swinging toward those who no longer favor treating marijuana users
like hardened criminals.

As the drug policy reform movement moves forward, the federal
government is stuck with Reagan-era policies.

On a national level, the situation is not being adequately
addressed: There is no serious debate about whether marijuana usage
is less of a public nuisance than alcohol consumption, or whether
it is less of a public health problem than smoking tobacco.

No one seems to take note that pot is California’s number
one cash crop ““ that legalizing it would take profits away
from shady drug dealers and potentially bring in big revenues for
the state.

Success comes in bits.

Sick people across the country cannot get marijuana to help kill
pain. Men and women of all ages are put away for getting a quick
high.

People are left to celebrate what they can, like the fact that a
court does not take away a doctor’s right to offer medical
advice and tell a patient, “Smoking marijuana might make
things less painful.”