Pubdate: Mon, 26 Jan 2015
Source: West Hawaii Today (HI)
Copyright: 2015 West Hawaii Today
Contact: http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/contact_us/letters/
Website: http://westhawaiitoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/644
Note: Editorial from Los Angeles Times

A WELCOME LEGAL REVIEW OF MARIJUANA USE

A federal judge has done what Congress and the Obama administration 
have failed to do - open a discussion on whether marijuana should 
continue to be listed as a Schedule 1 drug, a classification that is 
supposed to be used only for the most dangerous, addictive drugs, 
such as heroin and LSD.

As part of a criminal trial involving alleged marijuana growers in 
Northern California, U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller held a 
five-day hearing late last year to evaluate the current scientific 
research on marijuana use and to determine whether the Schedule 1 
designation is unconstitutional, as the defendants contend.

Final arguments are scheduled for next month.

This discussion is a welcome one. Whether the Drug Enforcement 
Administration's classification is constitutional or not, it 
shouldn't take a judge to point out that lumping marijuana in with 
heroin and deeming it to have no medicinal value at all is 
unreasonable and unnecessary.

Frankly, government policy on marijuana is a mess. Federal law says 
marijuana has no accepted medicinal value, yet 23 states - including 
Hawaii - have legalized it for medical use. It has been put on the 
list of drugs that carry the most severe penalties for drug crimes, 
but Congress and the Obama administration have also passed 
legislation that blocks funding for the enforcement of federal 
marijuana laws in states that allow medical marijuana.

That law, passed in December, in effect ended the prohibition of 
medical marijuana in nearly half the states.

Meanwhile, Colorado and Washington have been unofficially allowed by 
the federal government to legalize recreational pot.

Even as lawmakers relax enforcement, federal authorities, including 
the prosecutors in Mueller's courtroom, defend the Schedule 1 
designation, saying there are not enough long-term studies of the 
medicinal value and health risks of marijuana use to justify 
reclassifying it. But the DEA has for decades made it nearly 
impossible for researchers to obtain the drug for study.

The lack of research hasn't stopped many states from allowing the use 
of the drug for pain relief and other therapeutic purposes, but it 
has denied doctors and patients important information about the risks 
or benefits. The agency began increasing government production of 
marijuana for research only last year.

Legalization advocates hope Mueller will rule that federal marijuana 
policy is unconstitutional. Although her decision would apply only to 
the defendants in this case and could be appealed, a ruling against 
the existing policy could prompt other defendants to file similar 
motions. But the country's drug laws should not be decided in the 
courts. It's long past time for Washington to revisit the war on 
drugs, and officials can begin by reclassifying medical marijuana so 
it can be regulated more as a prescription drug.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom