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State should opt out
of medical marijuana raids

THE ISSUE The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal authorities may prosecute patients who use marijuana recommended by their doctors.

SICK people who have been using marijuana for medicinal purposes in compliance with laws in Hawaii and nine other states are at risk. In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government may prosecute medical users of marijuana, despite state laws permitting such use. The state and counties should decline to cooperate in enforcing what dissenting Justice Sandra Day O'Connor called "federal police power" usurping their authority.

Medical marijuana users received a boost from the high court two years ago when it let stand a ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that physicians may recommend marijuana to patients in states where it is permitted. More than 1,000 Hawaii residents are registered with the state to grow and use the plant under their doctors' supervision.

However, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that federal agents may prosecute those patients for violating federal drug laws. It decided that the constitutional provision allowing the federal government to regulate interstate commerce allows it to crack down on medical marijuana, even when it is grown and used at home, never entering the economy or crossing state lines.

O'Connor called the rationale "breathtaking," ascribing economic consequences to virtually anything. "Home care substitutes for day care," she asserted. "Charade games substitute for movie tickets. Backyard or windowsill gardening substitutes for going to the supermarket. To draw the line wherever private activity affects the demand for market goods is to draw no line at all, and to declare everything economic."

What to do now? Diane Monson, one of the two California women who challenged the federal aggression in court, said she will continue smoking marijuana to relieve excruciating back pain caused by degenerative spine disease, and prepare to be arrested.

Alan Hopper, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, said the ruling "is probably not going to change a lot for individual medical marijuana patients" because local and state authorities handle 99 percent of marijuana prosecutions. That is a rosy presumption that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will not continue predecessor John Ashcroft's crusade against marijuana.

A Justice Department spokesman expressed pleasure with the court's decision but refused to say whether federal prosecutors will pursue cases against Monson and others. State and local authorities are under no obligation to assist in those efforts.

Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the majority opinion, suggested that Congress may want to move marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act's Schedule I drugs, those that are potentially abusive and lack any accepted medical use, to Schedule II, drugs that have a potential for abuse but do have accepted medical use. Congress is not likely to do so, leaving states and localities with no other acceptable option than refusing to be a part of punishing sick people seeking relief.

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