Culture Clash Wm F. Buckley (Medical Marijuana )

[coda]

Op/Ed - William F. Buckley


CULTURE CLASH

Tue Nov 30, 7:59 PM ET Op/Ed - William F. Buckley


By William F. Buckley Jr.

<snip>

The issue, of course, is whether individual states can legislate with regard to drug laws if the federal government has already staked out a position on the matter.


We have very concrete circumstances here: 35 states grant exemptions of one kind or another to producers, retailers, consumers, cons and ex-cons involved with cannabis. The arguments made before the Supreme Court were blissfully simple, in one respect. What the government lawyers argued was that the states were in violation of the Constitution, which gives to Congress, and only to Congress, authority to regulate commerce. Accordingly (they argue) all those state laws are stuff and nonsense. One jurist wants even more: He wants punitive action taken against those states that, acting on their various plebiscites and propositions, have been less than rigorous in enforcing the anti-narcotics laws.


<snip>



( Re: Medical Marijuana) the scientists have a hard time here, because it is difficult to argue with a flesh-and-blood human being who says take your effing placebo and run it up your behind. A colleague of mine, the author of four outstanding books on American history, put it roughly like this: I am telling you I tried the placebo, and I tried marijuana. I continued wretchedly sick with the fake stuff and hugely solaced by the grass. I am an honors graduate of Yale University, politically a conservative opposed to drug legalization and please leave off the cant about how it doesn't make any difference, because I had cancer, and it does.


The complications in a comprehensive ban are manifest. What is the proper punishment for the mother who brings a reefer to her son's cancer bed?


And there is the putative respect paid to the medical community. Does the article in the Constitution that gives Congress the right to regulate commerce extend to writing law on the uses of a drug, given that medical experience is uniquely qualified to pass on such questions?



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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=128&ncid=742&e=8&u=/ucwb/20041201/cm_ucwb/cultureclash

[Kber]

1. I had an interesting conversation re: medical marijuana w/ my OBGYN

I had severe morning sickness in my first trimester and had to be hospitalized after non-stop pucking for 6 days left me dangerously dehydrated and "technically" starving.

After we got it under control my Doctor called me into her office at my next routine monthly visit. She wanted me to know, in explicit terms, that in her medical opinion smoking pot was a viable option to control nausea for cancer patents, but NOT for pregnant woman. Cuts the oxygen supply down in the blood too much.

I don't smoke pot, and it hadn't really occurred to me, but after the visit, someone did ask me if I wanted to try it to control the nausea. I'm glad my Dr. had the professionalism and courage to have a frank, non-judgmental conversation with me about the risks and benefits. How much easier would it be for doctors everywhere to keep their patients safe, healthy, and comfortable if they could discuss these things openly w/out fear?

BTW - I had a cousin who passed away after contracting AIDS a few years ago and smoking a joint was truly the only thing that worked for him. Like any medical treatment, I believe it has its place where the effectiveness out ways the risks. I'd like doctors to be able to practice their "love with" patients w/out draconian gov't intervention.

[coda]

2. Thanks for posting that Kber

Good to know.

Loved your use of *'s, "practice their love", line, too.

:hi:

[jpgray]

3. The problem with marijuana has always been that any bum can grow it

So to profit off of it, the state has to outlaw it. Make sense?