Pubdate: Tue, 03 Jun 2003
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2003 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: John J. Coleman
Cited: Office of National Drug Control Policy (www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov )
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project ( www.mpp.org )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal (Rosenthal, Ed)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/ashcroft.htm (Ashcroft, John)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

Casualties of the Marijuana War

To the Editor:

A May 31 editorial recommends that Ed Rosenthal, who was convicted by a 
federal jury in California of growing marijuana, not receive any prison time.

But marijuana has been banned by federal law since 1937. Several states 
have passed so-called medical marijuana laws that allow desperately ill 
patients to grow, distribute and possess small quantities of the drug. The 
"approved" indications have often been expanded to include people with 
relatively common conditions for which many other F.D.A.-approved drugs are 
available.

The point in the Rosenthal case is not the drug but the law itself. State 
laws allowing medical marijuana are in direct conflict with Article VI of 
the United States Constitution, which states that federal law "shall be the 
supreme law of the land."

In reaching its verdict, the Rosenthal jury properly considered the 
evidence presented at trial that Mr. Rosenthal committed the crimes as 
charged. To introduce California's law and its facially unconstitutional 
provisions would have been improper and irrelevant, since the law itself 
was not at issue.

John J. Coleman Clifton, Va., May 31, 2003 The writer is a retired 
assistant administrator of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.
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