WAR ON DRUGS SHOULDN'T INCLUDE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The federal government's war on drugs is an enormous and expensive
endeavor. And drug enforcement officials continue to ask Congress for more
and more money to curb the nation's illegal drug problem.

Why then is the Clinton administration wasting precious resources trying to
keep medicinal marijuana away from cancer and AIDS patients?

That's the question all taxpayers ought to be asking.

For example, let's look at the current crusade of the Justice Department to
undermine California's voter-approved law that allows marijuana to be used
for medical purposes. The four-year legal tussle made its way to the
Supreme Court recently as the high court barred distribution of marijuana
by a private clinic.

But the issue of whether states have the power to allow marijuana for
medical use is far from resolved. California is just one of the states in
which voters have approved medical-marijuana laws. Washington and Oregon
are two of the seven states that have laws similar to California's.

The federal government is just as eager to quash Washington's and Oregon's
laws, but have yet to find the right case to challenge them. But the
Justice Department continues to look - seemingly with no regard for what it
is costing taxpayers.

It is absurd. Medical marijuana has absolutely nothing to do with this
country's serious problem with illegal drug use. It's about - or, at least,
it should be about - providing relief from pain and nausea just like any
other medication.

The federal government now regulates dangerous and addictive narcotics such
as codeine and morphine for pain control with few problems.

The scientific evidence isn't conclusive on the use of marijuana for
medical purposes, but there is strong anecdotal evidence that suggests it
has medical benefits. It is so convincing that voters in seven states have
legalized marijuana as medicine.

The patchwork of laws has created an enforcement nightmare, which is why
the Justice Department has been working to put the kibosh on the
voter-approved laws. The effort will fail. The public correctly sees this
solely as a medical issue and will continue to support state efforts to
allow marijuana as medicine.

States have the power to establish drug laws and likely also have the power
to allow marijuana for medical purposes. That's why federal efforts to
usurp state laws have focused on sanctioning doctors who prescribe
marijuana. The courts, of course, will ultimately decide whether the
federal government can supercede these state laws.

Meanwhile, the waste will continue.

It is time federal officials got in step. Marijuana used as medicine should
be regulated at the federal level just like thousands of other drugs
dispensed by a doctor's prescription.

And then the drug-war money that would have been used to fight the state
laws could be used to combat real problems.