Moment of Truth for Medical Marijuana

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Moment of Truth for Medical MarijuanaBy Robert Kampia, AlterNetMay 29, 2003http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16023On May 22, the state-federal conflict over medical marijuana heated up, asMaryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich defied White House pressure and became thefirst Republican governor to sign a medical marijuana bill. Meanwhile, onJune 4, a federal court in California is scheduled to sentence Ed Rosenthalto at least five years in federal prison for the crime of providing medicalmarijuana to seriously ill people.Rosenthal was convicted on January 31 of growing marijuana, but he wasconvicted by a jury that heard only half the story. When the jurorsdiscovered the crucial facts that had been withheld from them, half of themtook the extraordinary step of publicly renouncing their own verdict andapologizing to the man they had just convicted.Juror Marney Craig wrote in the San Jose Mercury News, "Rosenthal'sattorneys were not allowed to tell us the critical facts: He grew marijuanafor use by people suffering from cancer, AIDS and other horrible diseaseswhose physicians had recommended it. ... I helped send a man to prison whodoes not belong there."The evidence for marijuana's medical usefulness grows every day. Just thisMay, the esteemed medical journal, The Lancet Neurology, stated thatmarijuana's active components "inhibit pain in virtually every experimentalpain paradigm" and suggested that marijuana might become "the aspirin of the21st century."The American public overwhelmingly supports protecting medical marijuanapatients - 80 percent, according to a CNN/Time poll released in November. Bysigning the medical marijuana bill, Gov. Ehrlich placed himself squarely inthe American mainstream.The response thus far from White House Drug Czar John Walters is simply tolie - making absurd statements comparing medical marijuana to "medicinalcrack."Walters clings to the federal Controlled Substances Act, enacted back in1970, which arbitrarily and wrongly declared marijuana to be without medicalvalue. Because of this outdated law, federal courts - like the one thattried Ed Rosenthal - bar any discussion of medical use.Think about this: If you shoot your neighbor, you are allowed to explainwhy. Did you shoot in self-defense or to protect someone else from harm?Motivation is often the key to guilt or innocence.As Marney Craig put it, "All Ed Rosenthal did was grow some plants, but hewasn't allowed to tell us why."This is crazy, but Congress can fix it. A bipartisan coalition of U.S. Housemembers has introduced the Truth in Trials Act (H.R. 1717). This bill wouldremove the federal gag placed on medical marijuana defendants in states thathave chosen to allow medical use. The bill would let seriously ill patientsor people assisting them explain that they were acting to relieve sufferingin a manner permitted by state law, allowing them to avoid federal prison ifthe jury finds their evidence persuasive.This is a modest bill, one that would have no effect at all in states thathave not chosen to legalize medical marijuana. In the states that have doneso, juries would be able to hear the truth. Defendants facing federal prisonfor trying to help the sick could tell their stories without censorship.It's too late to help Ed Rosenthal, who faces a minimum of five years - andpossibly as many as 40 years - in federal prison. But it's not too late tohelp others.This is an issue of basic fairness. Congress should pass the Truth in TrialsAct without delay. And John Walters needs to start telling the truth or findanother job.Robert Kampia is executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project(MarijuanaPolicy.org) in Washington, D.C., which led the lobbying effort forthe Maryland medical marijuana bill.********If this email is cut short, changingplanet/messages