cannabisnews.com: The Court and Marijuana





The Court and Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on June 07, 2005 at 22:24:27 PT
Editorial
Source: New York Times
Washington, D.C. -- We read the Supreme Court's decision on the medicinal use of marijuana with mixed emotions. We certainly wish that the Justice Department could be weaned from the gross misuse of the federal Controlled Substances Act that led to its campaign against the use of marijuana by terminally ill people in the 11 states where it is legal for doctors to prescribe it. But we take very seriously the court's concern about protecting the Commerce Clause, the vital constitutional principle that has allowed the federal government to thwart evils like child labor and segregation.
The dissenters in the 6-to-3 decision, Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice William Rehnquist, opened the door for conservatives who want to sharply reduce Congress's use of its power to regulate and protect interstate commerce. These conservatives want to turn the clock back to before the New Deal, when workers were exploited, factories polluted at will and the elderly faced insecure retirements. The law the Bush administration used in attempting to crack down on medical marijuana in states where it is legal was intended to stop interstate trafficking in dangerous drugs. Most Americans would agree that using small amounts of marijuana in private under a doctor's supervision has nothing to do with narcotics trafficking. To stop the Justice Department from pursuing this ideological obsession, Congress should amend the law to specifically exempt prescribed marijuana. It should not be a partisan issue; both red and blue states have laws allowing the medicinal use of marijuana. We hope good sense prevails. And we hope that Justice Antonin Scalia, who seems to be campaigning for chief justice, remembers that he concurred with the majority this week the next time the court hears a federal-powers case on, say, air pollution.Source: New York Times (NY)Published: June 8, 2005Copyright: 2005 The New York Times Company Contact: letters nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Angel Raich v. Ashcroft Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/raich.htmAnother Label-Defying Rulinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20808.shtmlIn The Grip of Reefer Madnesshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20807.shtmlCourt: Let Congress Legalize Ithttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20788.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by Sam Adams on June 08, 2005 at 10:51:33 PT
Gone too far
Those are some great letters Jose. There are so many people from all professions & walks of life that are outraged by medical marijuana prohibition, I wish Peter Lewis & other big donors would focus more on this issue. It's an easy slam dunk. They could crush the federal government in another 12 state referendums in 2006 for the price of one legalization referendum in Nevada which will surely lose - *again*.Taylor I couldn't agree more, I'm pretty much like you. I never wanted to be a Libertarian - I believe that the poor should be helped, that everyone should get basic health care & education, etc, but year after year of watching the government's pathetic bungling & waste morph into downright cruelty and violence, I start to realize that government is not the answer, it's generally an evil institution.Just look at the latest Space Shuttle crash, where a single NASA bureaucrat sent 12 innocent astronauts to a fiery death, just because she thought helping them would make her little bureaucratic fiefdom look bad within NASA.  Three different engineering teams approached senior NASA management and also asked the Air Force for help in photographing the wing damage & developing a rescue plan. This manager (sorry, forget her name) reprimanded all the teams, effectively killing a few people's careers, and then retracted the offers of help to the Air Force, apologizing for bothering them. Disgraceful. NASA should be shut down immediately, let private companies handle space travel.
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Comment #4 posted by jose melendez on June 08, 2005 at 03:32:10 PT
bang, bang, shoot 'em DOWN
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_2789411
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Comment #3 posted by Taylor121 on June 07, 2005 at 23:41:35 PT
They have a Dream Sam
A dream of a far left America where the states have no power so they can enforce their agenda on not just some states, but on all of them.I'm not trying to be a jerk here or biased, keep in mind I am a far left social liberal, but I am also a far right fiscal conservative. I disagree with the agenda of the New York Times and I disagree with the New Deal FDR programs. It has lead to this point, where medical marijuana patients can't be protected on the state level. Sad sad day.
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Comment #2 posted by Max Flowers on June 07, 2005 at 23:10:12 PT
Agreed, Sam... and
We read the Supreme Court's decision on the medicinal use of marijuana with mixed emotions. We certainly wish that the Justice Department could be weaned from the gross misuse of the federal Controlled Substances Act that led to its campaign against the use of marijuana by terminally ill people in the 11 states where it is legal for doctors to prescribe it. But we take very seriously the court's concern about protecting the Commerce Clause, the vital constitutional principle that has allowed the federal government to thwart evils like child labor and segregation. I would add this: why can't they see the vast moral difference, polar opposite even, of the need to prevent cruelties committed by people against other people (i.e. child labor and civil rights abuses) and the medical cannabis question, which involves people trying to help sick people and sick people trying to help themselves?? Why is that simple logic so elusive to them?
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on June 07, 2005 at 22:43:31 PT
NY Times
I have mixed emotions reading this editorial.   just kidding!Why do these "liberal" Democratic newspapers continue to live in make-believe fantasyland? We're 5 years into the Bush administration, rabid Republicans rule Congress, they're not going to do ANYTHING to help medical MJ patients. It was up to the Supreme Court to help, and they did not. This is exactly the problem with the Dems. Imagine we're back in '73, the liberal Supreme Court justices are "troubled" by some of the facts in the abortion case Roe vs. Wade, but vote to leave the laws intact, due to an obscure, convoluted interpretation of the law.  That's the difference between then & now. The political left has broken down, like an old car, it just can't make any progress any more.The bottom line I see here is that NY Times is awful sorry those sick and dying people in California were raided and looted, and their helpers prosecuted, but hey, marijuana has be illegal, so it's forgivable collateral damage.  Why can't the NY Times editors accept the inescapable logic than MJ prohibition is a terrible, epic failure. One of the worst government disasters of all time. Seriously, what is wrong with them?
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