cannabisnews.com: A Welcome Ruling on Medical Marijuana





A Welcome Ruling on Medical Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on October 21, 2003 at 09:05:29 PT
Editorial
Source: Berkshire Eagle
Since the Supreme Court ruled without comment, court observers can only guess at the reasoning behind the justices' surprising decision last week permitting the medical use of marijuana. The court must have been impressed, however, by the arguments of both liberal and conservative judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, whose ruling a year ago the high court has now upheld. The appeals judges in San Francisco endorsed "principles of federalism" that the current Supreme Court generally respects, and they declared that the federal government butting into doctor-patient communications violates constitutional rights of free speech.
The ruling is a victory not just for speech and privacy but for the best kinds of states' rights -- i.e., those that advance the cause of freedom and not the cause of oppression or entrenched power. Most importantly, the decision empowers physicians to proceed at no legal risk to themselves or their patients with a vital part of their calling, the alleviation of suffering.Sadly, the court ruling was slow in coming. It was the Clinton administration in 1996 that reacted to a California referendum approving doctor-prescribed marijuana for pain-ridden cancer and AIDS patients by threatening physicians with the loss of their federal licenses to prescribe drugs. The Bush administration has been even more aggressive, raiding clinics and distribution centers, and prosecuting growers. The reasoning of both administrations was that marijuana is illegal, period, and tough federal laws supersede more lenient state regulations.This absurd rigidity led to confusion in the 10 states -- most of them out west; Maine is the closest -- that enacted medical-marijuana laws legislatively or by initiative. It also caused needless suffering among patients for whom other painkillers worked much less effectively than marijuana, which can also prolong life in some patients. Many of those afflicted chose to live -- and often die -- in great pain rather than risk federal prosecution of themselves or their physicians. Judith Cushner, 58, who suffers from breast and uterine cancer, told The New York Times, "There are people who would be alive today if they had felt comfortable discussing it with their physicians. It took seven years to get this far. Cancer moves a lot faster than that."The court's decision now makes it more likely that other states will enact medical-marijuana laws. In removing some of the stigma of cannabis, the ruling might also hasten the decriminalization of marijuana, which when used as a recreational drug is generally less dangerous than alcohol. The Bush administration, which implored the Supreme Court to overturn the Ninth Circuit ruling, will be no help in bringing rationality to the issue.Richard Meyer, a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Francisco, reacted to the ruling by saying, "Marijuana is still an illegal drug. We will continue doing our job." Mr. Meyer should be reminded that part of the DEA's job now is to stay out of law-abiding doctors' offices. Source: Berkshire Eagle, The (MA)Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 Copyright: 2003 New England Newspapers, Inc.Contact: letters berkshireeagle.comWebsite: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Walters vs. Conant, 03-40 - PDFhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/walters.pdfBackers of Medical Marijuana Hail Rulinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17566.shtmlHigh Court Lets Stand Ruling Over Medical Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17565.shtmlSupreme Court Clears Way for Medical Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17564.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by global_warming on October 21, 2003 at 15:25:06 PT
Amen Brother Max
I agree 100% with Max Flowers eloquent appraisal of the situation..I apologize to E. Johnson if I was rude or insensitive, I hope that you can forgive me and that we can get to the business at hand, together we can overcome this disease that is destroying our american nation.I partially read an article from the Cato Institute about the alcohol prohibtion, it seems to be an accurate picture of what occured,..my only regret is that the alcohol prohibition occured one year before the stock market crash of 1921 and lasted through the great depression..
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-157.htmlAs for this dingleberry named AM Rosenthal, he probably does not exist, it is an incarnation of Dr. Barthwell or John PP. Walters, anyway, his article is a re-hash of the same old party drug warrior line, I hope New Yorkers see through this thin and clumsy vail..Peace to All
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on October 21, 2003 at 11:11:47 PT:
I went to the link...it's Abe Rosenthal, back from
well deserved retirement.You remember ol' "Honest" Abe, don't you? The one who was in Barry's little kaffeklatsch, plotting to overturn democracy in California and Arizona by using the Feds force as a means to subvert the 'will of the people'? This is the very same Abe Rosenthal, who, unbeknownst to him, was taped by Barry illegally and without his knowledge, plotting with Barry in how to do it.Here's a partial transcript of their little plot: http://cannabisnews.com/news/7/thread7417.shtmlScheming how to take the votes of Californians, Arizonans, and anyone who seeks to paticipate in the democratic process and throw them in the trash...because they know better than the people who voted for these referenda what's good for them.I would not have sought to limit his sovereign franchise as a citizen; by what right does he have to do so to me or you? If it were not for the damage these living fossils do, I'd be inclined to pity them. As it is, creatures like this don't deserve to live in the democracy they've tried to run roughshod over. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on October 21, 2003 at 10:37:10 PT
News Article from Snipped Source
Case for Legalized Pot is a Deadly Con Job 
  
After about two decades as a foreign correspondent, I returned to the United States to find my country in a war I had barely heard of before. A lot of young people were dying by swallowing poison pills or injecting the poison into their veins. Americans took to calling it the war on drugs.
Thousands had died by then, and before long thousands more would be killed because of organized gangs that were operating all over the world and harvesting billions of dollars. They still are killing, often gang against gang, but with far more powerful weapons than they had in earlier days. In some countries, they even use explosives to force open banks and their vaults - sometimes by night, often audaciously in daylight.Quite early, going back to the early decades of the 20th century before the war started in full, the killers understood that drugs were far and away the most valuable article of trade around - that they could bring in thousands or even millions of times more money than the most precious metals or works of art.To this day, there is still argument, usually vicious, between Americans who believe on the one hand that the war on drugs must be won and the murderous gangs that trade in them stamped out - and on the other hand that the war is an unwinnable waste and the best course is just to legalize almost everything. 
Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.nydailynews.com/10-17-2003/news/story/127516p-114101c.html
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Comment #1 posted by Max Flowers on October 21, 2003 at 10:11:58 PT
Richard Meyer is a murderer
Oh so let me get this straight, now the DEA is above the U.S. Supreme Court?? The Supreme Court makes a historic ruling and all the DEA chief has to say about it is "Marijuana is still an illegal drug. We will continue doing our job"? It was one thing to ignore the will of the people, we expect that from DEA, but ignoring a ruling from the highest court in the land is something else. Behold the arrogance of this man who feels he doesn't even have to acknowledge what the Supreme Court has ruled about and the effect that it has on the specific duties of his agency.It's treason. It's negligence. It's willful disobeying of the law.I know some of you will just say it's bravado, B.S. being spouted by a defeated drug warrior, but I fear not, I think these guys are going to do whatever they want and no supreme court or anything less than orders from the "president" to stop it will have any effect. These guys are cowboys out of control, I don't think they think that anyone really runs them but themselves.And worse still, by all appearances they're a bunch of sissies who, given the choice between using their resources going after really bad guys like coke and meth gangs---criminals who shoot back---and unarmed, often disabled and sick, peaceful medicinal cannabis growers, the DEA chooses the latter.Richard Meyer, I hope you read this. You make me sick, you are a disgrace to your country and you have reduced your agency to a criminal goon squad. When this is all over and you've been booted from your position, or however you finally leave it, We The People (heard of them??) will hold you responsible for the suffering and death you have caused to innocent Americans.
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