New Mexico mmj news for you:
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Feds Should OK Medicinal Marijuana Use
August 27, 2007 at 08:38:44 PT
Editorial
Source: Albuquerque Tribune
Santa Fe, NM -- It's criminal that in the "war on drugs" sick New Mexicans remain collateral damage.
In spite of a recently passed state medicinal marijuana law - which permits marijuana to be prescribed and used by patients who might benefit from it and to be distributed by the state Health Department - state officials have had to indefinitely suspend their own oversight of the program.
That's because distributing or using marijuana is illegal under federal law, which doesn't recognize its medical use or state laws that do.
State Attorney General Gary King has warned that state officials could get charged with criminal drug possession or distribution by the feds.
Last week, Gov. Bill Richardson properly sent a letter to President Bush asking the feds to back off legitimate state medicinal marijuana programs. Meanwhile, he ordered the department to resume planning for full implementation of the program, including issuance of public regulations by October, with a formal decision on when to implement to come later.
It is unlikely Richardson will order state employees to put themselves at risk. But if Bush fails to act compassionately, Richardson and the New Mexico congressional delegation should vigorously pursue reforms at the federal level that would permit state officials to do their jobs within state laws.
The bottom line is improving medical care for untold numbers of patients, for whom marijuana provides relief from pain or other symptoms of devastating illnesses such as cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis epilepsy and glaucoma.
Richardson, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in next year's election, also could make the issue a popular part of his campaign, appealing to the compassion of the American people and placing unresponsive federal authorities on notice.
The state's comprehensive regulations, of course, will have to include licensing marijuana producers, as well as some legal way to get the otherwise illegal drug into the hands of qualified patients, many of whom use the drug to combat nausea caused by cancer and AIDS therapies.
What is it about pain, nausea and comforting the afflicted that the federal government, Congress and the White House still don't get?
Why, in 2007, with New Mexico becoming the 12th state to authorize medicinal marijuana use, are we in this goofy confrontation between states and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration?
Why are doctors and patients not making the decisions about whether marijuana should be part of any patient's therapy?
Why are federal bureaucrats and law enforcement officials essentially making those medical decisions, by threatening to arrest anyone, including state officials acting under valid state laws, who distributes marijuana for medical use?
Why hasn't Congress recognized the need and passed, by nonpartisan voice vote, approval for state-authorized medicinal use of marijuana? That it hasn't defies human compassion, sound medical care and basic common sense.
Sooner or later, Congress will realize that - as usual - the states and the people are way ahead of it on this issue.
Why not sooner - like before Congress adjourns this year? If not, why not make this issue part of the 2008 presidential and congressional elections and demand unsympathetic senators and representatives to explain their positions? On what grounds really, does the federal government deny patients access to a drug that helps them?
Why not force the federal government to do the right thing?
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