medical marijuana

The Supreme Court has ruled that individual state laws allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes do not supercede federal marijuana laws, as detailed in this article from CNN.com:

Supreme Court allows prosecution of medical marijuana
Monday, June 6, 2005 Posted: 10:40 AM EDT (1440 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal authorities may prosecute sick people who smoke pot on doctors' orders, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, concluding that state medical marijuana laws don't protect users from a federal ban on the drug.

On one hand, this is a simple case of states' rights versus federal law -- and let's not forget that this is what started the American Civil War. A number of states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state -- already have laws on the books allowing people to grow and/or obtain marijuana for medical purposes, with the recommendation of a physician. The good news, I suppose, is that the Court's decision (6-3), written by Justice John Paul Stevens, points out that Congress can change the federal law to allow the medical use of marijuana.

Given our current White House administration and the political tone in this country, I wouldn't count on that happening any time soon.

In my opinion, however, the law against the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is an outrageous violation of privacy.
The government is condemning terminally and chronically ill American citizens to suffer needlessly, out of nothing more than superstition, phobia, and an insatiable need for control.

In other words, happy Monday. ;)

As a caveat, I admit that I have no personal experience with marijuana, medicinal or otherwise, but I really do not understand the fear and loathing often associated with this "drug." As far as I can tell, this is a naturally occuring plant with no truly harmful properties, and which offers many benefits (including being the source of hemp for production of cloth, paper, and other non-hallucinogenic products). It is also my understanding that many physicians do not stand behind the U.S. government's claims that marijuana is harmful and destructive and warrants classification as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

And yet, tobacco products and alcohol -- whose addictive properties and detrimental effects on both health and behavior are well-known and well-documented -- are widely available for purchase, with the only regulation on sale being that of a birthday check. Those industries, of course, have some formidable lobbyists.