The Government's Marijuana Problem [View all]

[RainDog]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2011/12/12/the-government-marijuana-problem/IkzFO6LBsHa6ss8BoWnsJO/story.html

EVEN IF I wanted to get marijuana, I wouldn’t know where to start looking. That predicament should not be true for the terminally ill. But the legal limbo regarding medical marijuana has left many state governments deciding between promoting patient care and exposing people to prosecution. Finally, the states are pushing back.

Decisions about marijuana’s medical benefits are made by the Justice Department’s Drug Enforcement Agency; decisions about whether to prosecute those who violate federal law against marijuana use reside with local US attorneys’ offices; decisions about whether there can be more medical studies are made by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, whose name gives you a sense of its priorities.

...even in the states that allow medical marijuana, federal authorities keep bringing cases against medical marijuana distributors, their clients, and the landlords that lease to them. Some may deserve it and just be fronts for recreational use. But because federal and state laws overlap, the only assurance the Justice Department can give to state supporters of medical marijuana is a promise that prosecutions against caregivers or patients are a low priority. That sentiment was reiterated by Attorney General Eric Holder just last week.

Assurances are not legally binding. This leaves governors in a terrible quandary about how, and whether, to proceed with laws allowing the distribution of marijuana for medical use. In Rhode Island, before Governor Lincoln Chafee ever enforced a law allowing distribution by “compassion centers,’’ he received a letter from the state’s US attorney to “ensure that there is no confusion.’’ With a passing reference to Holder’s priorities, the letter warns that Justice will vigorously enforce laws against the manufacture, distribution, and possession of marijuana “even if such activities are permitted under state law.’’

As the writer of this editorial notes, the federal government lags behind the science, the desire of the American population and compassion.

It's time for the DEA to reschedule cannabis, as four governors have recently requested, and as five democrats and one Republican have attempted to do via HR 2306 - a bill whose progress is stalled by one Republican representative from Texas.

A recent Senate subcommittee report noted that the war on drugs is a failure; the primary beneficiaries of current policies and actions are military contractors and drug lords.

It's time for marijuana to be handled by the FDA and medical professsionals, not the D.E.A or the N.I.D.A.