As far as our nation’s wars go, the War On Drugs has been overshadowed by the War on Terrorism and the related actual war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But just because we no longer have Nancy Reagan telling the youth of America to “just say no”, and William Bennett has long traded his Czardom for a stack of poker chips, doesn’t mean that the federal government has forgotten about the nation’s stoners, addicts, tweakers and psy-trance enthusiasts.
Yesterday, under the prodding of the Bush Administration, the anti-drug crusaders added another notch to their bedposts. The Supreme Court voted 6-3 that the government could enforce a Federal law that bans the cultivation and use of marijuana for any reason, including for medicinal purposes. State laws allowing medical marijuana use can be superseded by the federal rules. Take that, Angel Raich and Diane Monson!
If you aren’t familiar with the names, Raich and Monson are the seriously ill California women who were arrested in 2001 for growing and using medicinal pot, and subsequently brought a case against former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Raich has an inoperable brain tumor. Monson suffers from chronic back pain. Likely, Ashcroft would have anointed them with Crisco and let God sort out the rest. Don’t these women know that marijuana is a gateway drug? That it might lead to them being hooked on harder stuff, such as narcotics like codeine or morphine?
Oh wait. Those are legal.
For the proponents of medicinal marijuana, the next step is trying to convince Congress to pass a law exempting them from the current drug statutes. Which seems about as likely as convincing Congress to pass a national health care system funded entirely by a hefty tax increase on the rich.
“Just because we did not win this battle does not mean that we will not still have the opportunity to win this war,” Raich said in Oakland, California. “If I were to stop using cannabis unfortunately I would die.”
We tried to find reaction on this from Bill Frist and Tom Coburn, considering both Senators are doctors. But as Frist was trying to find a link between tears and AIDS, and Coburn was off hunting for teenage lesbians in Oklahoma school bathrooms, it looks like Raich is left to fend for herself.
Isn’t it ironic that in a country that has no problem legalizing dangerous, life-threatening drugs whenever Big Medicine asks, our leaders decide to get sanctimonious and bombastic about a group of sick people looking for a way to ease their pain? Sure, potheads can be annoying, and tend to eat all your Doritos when you aren’t looking, but that’s hardly a reason to punish the people who need a little herb in order to—you know—survive.
If you are looking for George Bush‘s “Culture of Life” to step in and assist Raich and Monson, you will be waiting for an awfully long time. Drug Czar John Walters spoke for the administration, saying that the verdict “marks the end of medical marijuana as a political issue.” Another example that life only matters when it is still incubating inside a woman’s uterus. Everyone else can stop whining.