cannabisnews.com: States' Rights Under Fire 





States' Rights Under Fire 
Posted by FoM on November 11, 2001 at 07:33:20 PT
By Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Source: San Francisco Chronicle 
Attorney General John Ashcroft is an ardent advocate of states' rights, as he demonstrated in 1998 when he praised a pro-Confederacy magazine for defending "Southern patriots" like Jefferson Davis. His boss, President Bush, told campaign audiences last year that the federal government was too big and too active outside its proper sphere -- and even suggested that states should decide whether to legalize medical marijuana. 
But Ashcroft's actions toward doctors in Oregon and toward medical marijuana suppliers and physicians in California have led some analysts to question the administration's devotion to curbing the powers of the federal government. -- On Tuesday, Ashcroft ordered federal drug agents to crack down on doctors who prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill adults under Oregon's assisted-suicide law, twice approved by the state's voters. He reversed a 1998 decision by Attorney General Janet Reno, who said the practice of medicine was regulated by states, not the federal government. On Thursday, a federal judge granted state officials' request for a restraining order blocking Ashcroft's edict at least until Nov. 20. -- The week before, federal agents under Ashcroft's authority raided and shut down a Los Angeles medical marijuana clinic that was operating, with local law enforcement approval, under the terms of an initiative approved by California voters in 1996. Similar actions had been taken against Northern California clinics by President Bill Clinton's administration. -- Ashcroft's Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to overrule a San Francisco federal judge and let the government revoke the drug prescription licenses of California doctors who recommend marijuana to their patients, pursuing a case that began under Clinton. "I think they care about states' rights when it serves their political ends . . . but I think that's been true throughout American history," said University of Southern California law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, a liberal and frequent critic of the administration. On the conservative side, Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Sacramento, said Ashcroft's edict against assisted suicide was harder to defend than the federal attack on state medical marijuana laws. "The issue of whether a drug (like marijuana) is safe and effective for specific purposes was federalized long ago," Scheidegger said, referring to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval authority. "The right-to-die question is a question of basic criminal law, of what is homicide. . . . What people can do to each other in noncommercial contexts has traditionally been a state matter." "Congress has let the states control the practice of medicine," said Marsha Cohen, a professor at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco and a former president of the state Board of Pharmacy. "If Congress wished to take over this issue, it could pass a law." The U.S. Supreme Court also appeared to endorse state prerogatives in 1997 when it allowed states to prosecute doctors who aid in suicides, but said states are free to decide whether such assistance is a crime. Ashcroft noted, however, that the federal government regulates prescription drugs that are classified as "controlled substances" -- those that can be abused -- including the barbiturates used in Oregon to help consenting patients die.  OREGON ONLY STATE WITH THIS LAW  Oregon is the only state with an assisted-suicide law. While states decide whether a doctor is fit to practice, federal authorities can largely curtail a medical practice by revoking the doctor's license to prescribe federally controlled substances. Administering drugs to assist in a suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose," Ashcroft declared Tuesday in a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration, part of the Justice Department. The DEA took the same position three years ago and proposed to act against Oregon physicians, but the agency was overruled by Reno. She said she found no evidence that Congress, in restricting or banning certain drugs, "intended to displace the states as the primary regulators of the medical profession, or to override a state's determination as to what constitutes legitimate medical practice." On the other hand, Ashcroft argued Tuesday, if the federal government can outlaw marijuana as a medicine in states that allow it -- a position backed by the Supreme Court in a California case in May -- why can't it decide how federally regulated medicines are used? "You would think he would be sympathetic to a narrower reach of a federal law," said Jesse Choper, a constitutional law professor at the University of California at Berkeley. But if Ashcroft sincerely believes federal law forbids the use of medicines to assist in a suicide, his job is to enforce the law, Choper said.  CONFIRMATION GRILLING  "That was one of the things they grilled him about when he testified at his confirmation hearing, whether he would enforce laws with which he disagreed," Choper said. The grilling, however, focused on Ashcroft's ability to act contrary to his political views -- particularly his opposition to abortion -- and not his zeal as a drug warrior. A lawyer for Oakland's now-closed medical marijuana dispensary was neither surprised nor impressed by Ashcroft's latest action. "Turning federal agents loose on (Oregon) physicians is consistent with the approach they're taking to medical marijuana," said Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, who argued the marijuana case in the Supreme Court. "We talk about states being laboratories, but when push comes to shove, (federal officials) don't give much credence to that." Note: Attorney general's actions show shift in White House policy. Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff WriterPublished: Sunday, November 11, 2001 Copyright: 2001 San Francisco Chronicle  Page A - 15 Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htm DEA Marijuana Madness http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11319.shtmlAshcroft Ruling Blocks Ore. Assisted-Suicide Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11286.shtmlFeds Are Busting The Wrong `Drug Ring'http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11284.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by Rainbow on November 12, 2001 at 17:41:55 PT
Wellstone too.
Wellstone made the same statement
> His boss, President Bush, told campaign audiences last year that the federal government was too big and too active outside its proper sphere -- and even suggested that states should decide whether to legalize medical marijuana. That along with there is not enough evidence.Congresscritters with their heads in the sand.I agree do not vote for incumbants. Throw the bums out.
But the problem is their are several more bums to take their place.Discouraged but still trying.Rainbow
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Comment #3 posted by john wayne on November 11, 2001 at 18:57:32 PT
gullible?
> His boss, President Bush, told campaign audiences last year that the federal government was too big and too active outside its proper sphere -- and even suggested that states should decide whether to legalize medical marijuana. ...and some idjits on this board actually believed him.HA!
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Comment #2 posted by goneposthole on November 11, 2001 at 10:34:11 PT
radio in exile
wbix 
http://www.nyc.indymedia.org:8081/wbix/
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Comment #1 posted by goneposthole on November 11, 2001 at 09:57:11 PT
medical marijuana
medical marijuana
http://www.marijuana.org
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