Monday, October 19, 2009

Obama's Medical Marijuana Decision Is Both Correct and Right

I was going to post my own thoughts on Obama's new policy concerning federal violations of anti-pot laws but Richard Brookhiser not only beat me to it, he, of course, said it much more eloquently than I ever could:

"I have always argued that medical-marijuana laws are not an exception to my conservative credo, but a natural item. Law and order is not served by passing laws that bring the system into contempt; liberty is not served by inserting the state between patients and their doctors; and morality is not served by withholding help from the sick. I am sorry that the honor of this change belongs to a liberal Democrat; glad, for the sake of the law and for the sick, that the change has come."

Read it all here.


I am in complete agreement with Brookhiser here, and thus Obama.

UPDATE: here's another story in support of the change in policy.  But this post by Wesley J. Smith raises a few important points I hadn't considered.  For instance:

"The solution to the medical-marijuana issue is clear: Amend the Controlled Substances Act. Selective enforcement undercuts the rule of law. Once enforcement exemptions are applied in one area of the law, what’s to stop them from being applied in another?"

To re-state my position: I agree with the goal of the Obama administration on this issue.  I have never understood the vehement opposition to any drug for legitimate medical purposes. But perhaps there are better ways to reach that goal than by selective non-enforcement of the law.  A more thoughtful approach may be in order.

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