cannabisnews.com: The Court Wisely Upholds Medicinal Marijuana The Court Wisely Upholds Medicinal Marijuana Posted by CN Staff on October 21, 2003 at 22:35:11 PT Editorial Source: Post-Gazette The U.S. Supreme Court last week decided to hear a case from California concerning whether the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. Given the heated controversy, that was no surprise. The real surprise came silently when it wisely affirmed a previous ruling in another contentious case from California.The issue was the right of doctors to recommend marijuana for medical purposes. Ten states have laws allowing a medical exception for marijuana use, including California, where voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996. It says doctors cannot be punished for recommending marijuana. Because the War on Drugs is such an exercise in absolutism -- all drugs are bad, no exceptions -- one commonsensical exception was viewed as subversive of the whole effort. The Clinton administration warned doctors that they could lose their right to practice if they recommended marijuana to patients who might need it to control pain. The Bush administration, no slacker in the drug wars, also supported that short-sighted policy.After a group of doctors and patients sued, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco sided with them, the Bush administration appealed to the Supreme Court, calling the ruling "an unprecedented intrusion" on federal prerogatives. The Supreme Court usually defers to this sort of argument and in the past has not been supportive of a medical exception for marijuana use. Two years ago the court ruled that the federal government can prohibit the large-scale distribution of marijuana by private clubs, even in states that had voted to support such medical use. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that, under federal law, marijuana "has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States."Although the effectiveness of the drug as a pain reliever is still debated in some quarters, many doctors do think it helps, as do their patients.But the legal issue was not just about the rights of doctors to recommend something they believe is helpful for their patients; it also went to the question of states' rights. Must the will of the people in various states defer to federal power in this area?That last factor, as much as a strong opinion from the 9th Circuit, may have been the clincher with conservative justices on the Supreme Court, notwithstanding their instinctual dislike of the weed. As it was, according to their own leanings, both liberals and conservatives could find a reason to resist federal overreach in this case. Whatever the reason for the court's quiet affirmation, it was a victory for sanity. If licensed physicians believe marijuana helps people who are sick, it is cruel and stupid to deny it to them. Complete Title: Pot Shot - The Court Wisely Upholds Medicinal Marijuana Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2003Copyright: 2003 PG PublishingContact: letters post-gazette.comWebsite: http://www.post-gazette.com/Related Articles:A Welcome Ruling on Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17634.shtmlBackers of Medical Marijuana Hail Rulinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17566.shtmlHigh Court Lets Stand Ruling Over Medical Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17565.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by jose melendez on October 22, 2003 at 16:06:32 PT Legalize it! from:http://mysite.verizon.net/aahpat/pol/ganja.htmA REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON GANJA TO Rt. Hon. P.J. PATTERSON, Q.C., M.P. PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA The National Commission of Ganja, pursuant to its terms of reference and after a period of exhaustive consultation and inquiry from November 2000 to July 2001, involving some four hundred persons from all walks of life, including professional and influential leaders of society, is recommending the decriminalisation of ganja for personal, private use by adults and for use as a sacrament for religious purposes. The Commission, after reviewing the most up-to-date body of medical and scientific research, is of the view that whatever health hazards the substance poses to the individual - and there is no doubt that ganja can have harmful effects, these do not warrant the criminalisation of thousands of Jamaicans for using it in ways and with beliefs that are deeply rooted in the culture of the people. Besides, there is growing evidence that the substance does have therapeutic properties. The Commission interviewed over three hundred and fifty persons in all the parishes, and received written submission from over forty. The overwhelming majority of these share the view that ganja should be decriminalised for personal, private use. Many of them are personally opposed to the smoking of it. The Commission is persuaded that the criminalisation of thousands of people for simple possession for consumption does more harm to the society than could be done by the use of ganja itself. The prosecution of simple possession for personal use and the use itself diverts the justice system from what ought to be a primary goal, namely the suppression of the criminal trafficking in substances, such as crack/cocaine, that are ravaging urban and rural communities with addiction and corrupting otherwise productive people. Decriminalisation of ganja will require appropriate amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act, in particular Sections 7C and 7D. The Commission, after very careful consideration of the legal issues involved, concludes that decriminalisation will in no way breach the United Nations Drug Conventions, which have been ratified by Jamaica. Especially is this so, when arguments of human rights, including the proposed Charter of Rights being discussed by Parliament, are taken into account. Accordingly, the National Commission is recommending: 1. that the relevant laws be amended so that ganja be decriminalised for the private, personal use of small quantities by adults; 2.that decriminalisation for personal use should exclude smoking by juveniles or by anyone in premises accessible to the public; 3.that ganja should be decriminalised for use as a sacrament for religious purposes; 4.that a sustained all-media, all-schools education programme aimed at demand reduction accompany the process of decriminalisation, and that its target should be, in the main, young people; 5. that the security forces intensify their interdiction of large cultivation of ganja and trafficking of all illegal drugs, in particular crack/cocaine; 6. that, in order that Jamaica be not left behind, a Cannabis Research Agency be set up, in collaboration with other countries, to coordinate research into all aspects of cannabis, including its epidemiological and psychological effects, and importantly as well its pharmacological and economic potential, such as is being done by many other countries, not least including some of the most vigorous in its suppression; and 7. that, as a matter of great urgency Jamaica embark on diplomatic initiatives with its CARICOM partners and other countries outside the Region, in particular members of the European Union, with a view (a) to elicit support for its internal position, and (b) to influence the international community to re-examine the status of cannabis. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The National Commission on Ganja acknowledges with gratitude the hundreds of people, old and young, male and female, artisans, workers, farmers, clerical workers, health, legal and other professionals, managers, unskilled and unemployed persons, policemen, clergy, self-employed, and visitors, who thought the work of the Commission serious and worthwhile enough to be interviewed or to send written submissions, letters and electronic mail. We thank the Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), in particular Mrs Deta Cheddar, the Secretary to the Commission, for facilitating our work, to the OPM in Montego Bay, and to the Local Government Officers and Social Development Commission staff in the parishes, who provided logistic and other support. The Jamaica Information Service made invaluable contribution by bringing the work of the Commission to the general public. Our thanks go as well to the various members of the communications media, who kept alive public interest in the work of the Commission. Our thanks are extended also to Chantal Ononaiwu and Natalie Ebanks for providing summaries of the laws and oral depositions, respectively, and to Ethnie Miller and Sonjah Stanley for surfing the Internet. Jacqui Getfield, an Assistant to the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Mona, worked closely with the Chairman. We thank her and other members of the Dean's Office for their support. A special thanks to Dr Stephen Vasciannie and Lord Anthony Gifford for preparing briefs at the Commission's request. Without the verbatim transcripts provided by the team of stenowriters led by Mrs Lilleth Haughton, the Commission's report would have been seriously handicapped. Special thanks, therefore, to Mrs Winnifred Mannaham and Ms Marjorie Goodgame, and to Miss Elaine Walker, Mr Garfield McKoy, Mrs Yvonne Jenkins, Mrs Clementina Barrett, Mrs Dorothy Ramsay and Ms Ursela Farquharson. Professor Barry Chevannes, Chairman Reverend Dr. Webster Edwards Mr. Anthony Freckleton Ms. Norma Linton, Q.C. Mr. DiMario McDowell Dr. Aileen Standard-Goldson Mrs. Barbara Smith [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on October 22, 2003 at 09:03:44 PT Jose Good Job! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by jose melendez on October 22, 2003 at 06:40:53 PT published again! http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1626/a09.html?1186see also:http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1540/a06.htmlhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1586/a02.html?1191http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1621/a02.html?1190 [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Virgil on October 22, 2003 at 06:35:05 PT The fascists do not need encouragement it is cruel and stupid to deny it to themThe USG gets off on cruel and stupid. It shows they have power and the people are under control. DC police show cruelty and stupidity [ Post Comment ] Post Comment