MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Drug warriors suffered another setback this week when the Rhode Island
Legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto and approved the use of
medical marijuana.

Under the law, people with cancer or AIDS can register with the state
to get permission to grow up to 12 marijuana plants or purchase 2.5
ounces of the drug for use to relieve their symptoms.
Advertisement

Rhode Island thus becomes the 11th state -- including Nevada -- to
legalize medical marijuana.

The U.S. Supreme Court -- led by the court's liberal wing -- ruled in
June that federal laws banning any use of marijuana trump the medical
marijuana statutes that have been democratically enacted in states
across the nation. But The Associated Press assures us that federal
authorities "have conceded they are unlikely to prosecute many medical
marijuana users."

Perhaps. But that hasn't stopped federal agents from harassing and
threatening to shut down the cannabis clubs in California that have
been licensed by the state to provide the drug to dying men and women.
Nor did it stop the DEA from going after doctors in California who
prescribed medical marijuana for their patients.

Maybe because Rhode Island -- like Nevada -- has a lower profile than
the Golden State, the feds will steer clear. And as the dominoes
continue to fall across the country, how much longer can the drug
warriors justify wasting their resources going after cancer and AIDS
patients in the last months of their lives -- a misguided Supreme
Court ruling in hand or not?