Re "Medical Pot Users Win Key Ruling," Dec. 17: The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' medical marijuana decision is really big news. Finally, a federal court is willing to clear the sick off the war-on-drugs battlefield. The decision is momentous not only for medical marijuana users but for how it may very well define the overall reach of federal power under the commerce clause. It's important for the federal government to be reminded -- from its own courts -- that it has no general police power. This decision sends just such a reminder. Let's hope that the Supreme Court affirms the 9th Circuit's decision and tells the Drug Enforcement Administration to stop arresting sick people. Richard Glen Boire, Davis, Calif. [end]
On May 14, the United States Supreme Court dealt a blow to organizations that grow or distribute medical marijuana to sick people, holding that such organizations may not raise a medical necessity defense to charges of violating the federal prohibition on marijuana. According to the Court, by placing marijuana in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act -- the Schedule that is the most restrictive possible --: Congress determined that marijuana has "no currently accepted medical use." The only exception to the strict prohibition on growing or distributing marijuana, said the Court, is for government-approved research projects. [continues 718 words]
RE "WHERE did killer ecstasy come from" (Jonathan Kingstone and Ian Robertson, Oct. 15). I don't know where adulterated Ecstasy comes from, but I do know that it is produced, in large part, by bad government policy. I was dismayed to learn that adulterated Ecstasy is now turning up in Canada. In my opinion, the current drug laws are as much to blame as the dealers who sold the bogus drug. The current situation with regard to Ecstasy is comparable to that which existed in the U.S. under alcohol prohibition when bootlegged "moonshine" often resulted in products that contained dangerous adulterants that could harm, and sometimes kill, the consumer. [continues 86 words]
I was dismayed to learn that adulterated Ecstasy is now turning up in Canada. In my opinion, the current drug laws are as much to blame as the dealers who sold the bogus drug. The current situation with regard to Ecstasy is comparable to that which existed in the U.S. under alcohol prohibition when bootlegged "moonshine" often resulted in products that contained dangerous adulterants that could harm, and sometimes kill, the consumer. History teaches that regardless of prohibition laws, people have a natural drive to experience alternative states of consciousness. Drugs, including alcohol, are one way to do this. The young people who died from taking adulterated Ecstasy are proof positive that criminal prohibitions on altering consciousness are making matters worse, not better. Richard Glen Boire, Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics [end]
