Government, heal thyself
A federal judge sets the Clinton administration straight
on its despicable attempt to censor physicians' advice to patients

IT GOES without saying that the government shouldn't intefere in

the doctorpatient relationship. It also goes without saying that the
government has no right trying to silence free speech.

But, in both cases, it had to be said.

U.S. District Judge Fern Smith last week told the federal government it
could not ban doctors from recommending medical marijuana to their
patients. In stern language, the San Francisco judge said: "When faced
with the fickle iterations of the government's policy, physicians have
been forced to suppress free speech."

At its core, Smith said, "this case involves no more than the ability of
physicians to recommend personal use of manjuana to bona fide patients
suffering from a narrow range of serious, debilitating diseases."

After the passage of Proposition 215 in California last November,
federal authorties threatened doctors with prosecution if they
recommended marijuana to their patients. Prop. 215 allows the possession
and

cultivation of marijuana to treat illnesses under a doctor's guidance.

The harsh federal policy was pushed by drug czar Barry McCaffrey, who is
fighting to ste~n a surge of drug use among American teenagers.
Unfortunately, McCaffrey conftises drug abuse with genuine compassion
for people suffering from terrible sickness.

It is still a crime for a physician to write a prescription for a drug
such as marijuana that is banned by federal law. Smith's decision doesn't
change that.

What it does squelch is a foolish and unconstitutional attempt by
government to intercede between doctors and their patients. Government
doesn't belong in the medical examining room, and it has no right to
muzzle doctors from giving patients the best advice available.

McCaffrey and the Clinton administration know better. Maybe in their
zeal to create a drugfree America, they inhaled something that altered
their judgment. And that's a kind interpretation of such brainfried
policies that violate sacred constitutional principles.