It’s time for a change in the
drug war and there’s a bill pending in the U.S. House of Representatives that
opens things up for medical marijuana.
The bill, HR 1983, sponsored by
Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank and co-sponsored by 21 other
representatives, would pull the plug on the federal government’s interference
on the medical marijuana issue in state’s that allow that use. It came in response
to President Obama’s turnabout on the matter.
Candidate Obama said the
federal government should not interfere with those states, but he changed his
mind once in office. Last year, federal raids and other actions on legal
marijuana ratcheted up on dispensaries in California.
HR 1983 is the States' Medical
Marijuana Patient Protection Act. It calls for the rescheduling of marijuana
from Schedule I — which means no medical value — to a Schedule III or better:
“Not later than 6 months after
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services,
in cooperation with the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine,
shall submit to the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration a
recommendation on the listing of marijuana within the Controlled Substances Act
(CSA), and shall recommend a listing other than `Schedule I' or `Schedule II,'”
the bill reads.
It goes further to say that the
Drug Enforcement Administration shall act on the recommendation within 12
months of passage. The bill also puts limits on the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act:
“No provision of the Federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act shall prohibit or otherwise restrict in a State in
which the medical use of marijuana is legal under State law.”
In short, if the bill should
become law — it’s currently in committee — prescription use of marijuana, along
with obtaining, manufacturing, possession or transportation would be off limits
to the feds in states that have passed laws allowing for medical marijuana.
HR 1983 is not the end all, be
all legislation that would put an end to an unconstitutional and failed drug
war that has militarized police and eroded civil liberties, but it is a step in
the right direction for health reasons. And for that reason alone, it should
pass.
The measure only applies to
states where medical marijuana is legal. It does not force the issue on other
states.
This is not a libertarian or
liberal issue. Truly compassionate conservatives can get behind this bill, at
least they should. They might even pick up some votes. Recent polls indicate
that 80 percent of the American population favors legalizing medical marijuana.
The least the federal government can do is get out of the way in states where
it’s already legal.
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