
 |
|
May 24, 2013
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
March 11, 2009
/ 15 Adar 5769
End pot raids, begin new sanity
By
Clarence Page
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
When Charles Lynch asked local officials for permission to sell an herbal medicine in the central California town of Morro Bay, they granted it to him even though the medicine was marijuana.
That's because marijuana recommended by a doctor has been legal in California since 1996. A dozen other states have passed similar laws. Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and New Hampshire are among about ten states that have been debating similar measures.
So Charlie applied for a business license, joined the Chamber of Commerce, talked to lawyers and even called the Drug Enforcement Administration before opening his medical marijuana dispensary with a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Unfortunately for Charlie, none of this prevented him from being arrested in March 2007 when federal authorities raided his home and small business.
That's because the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Gonzalez v. Raich in 2005 that in the issue of medical marijuana federal law trumps the states.
"Today's decision," crowed Bush's drug czar, John Walters, at the time, "marks the end of medical marijuana as a political issue."
Well, not quite. President Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that the Justice Department will stop raiding marijuana dispensaries in California and other states that allow medical marijuana.
But that doesn't help Charlie, whose sentencing is set for March 23. Lynch, who tried to conduct his business as openly and legally as possible under the laws enacted by Californians, is one of the more poignant examples of nonviolent offenders arrested and jailed by federal raiders.
Putting the brakes on medical marijuana raids is only one small step of the many that still need to be taken toward a sensible drug policy after years of backpedaling by President Bush.
Obama apparently likes to multi-task. Faced with a long list of thorny issues, he's decided to take them on all at once while his honeymoon lasts. While he's at it, he needs to modernize federal policy on the medicinal use of marijuana. Stopping the raids in state's where it's legal is good for starters. He also needs to lift what has amounted to a ban on scientific research and push to change federal law that currently equates marijuana with heroin.
That's right. Since 1971, marijuana has been classified as a "Schedule I" narcotic, meaning it has no medical value. That's the same category as heroin. And as if that's not goofy enough, that would suggest marijuana is more dangerous than crack cocaine, a Schedule II drug that no one in the sane world describes as more dangerous than pot.
Yet that's the kind of thinking that gave a green light for the DEA to terrorize growers, providers, caregivers and patients with hundreds of commando-style raids. At least 90 major raids have been conducted by DEA agents in California, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates legalization of medicinal marijuana.
The Bush administration justified the federal crackdown against the medicinal use of marijuana as a way to stop some people from abusing the drug as if some people didn't abuse every type of drug, legal or otherwise. In fact, the same rationale was used to justify alcohol prohibition a century ago. That didn't work out so well either.
Walters, like the drug czars before him, argued that the law must rely on scientific research, "not popular opinion." Yet 10 years after a study commissioned by President Bill Clinton's administration found medical value in smoked marijuana, the Bush experts say that's not enough.
Days before Obama's inauguration, the DEA denied an application by Professor Lyle Craker, who has been fighting in and out of court for eight years to obtain a license to conduct further DEA-approved research. Yet his study is the sort that must be done to provide the sort of data that the Bush administration said was lacking.
President Obama recently reversed much of what has been called the Bush administration's "war against science." He needs to turn around the war against medicinal marijuana research, too.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on Clarence Page's column by clicking here.
Archives
© 2009, TMS
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|