Chicago Sun-Times has it right

In today’s editorial “U.S.æ on the Wrong Side of Medical Marijuana Battle”

There are so many reasons to decry the federal government’s policy on medical marijuana that one hardly knows where to begin.æ First is medical science, which shows that marijuana provides unique comfort for those suffering from glaucoma, the effects of chemotherapy, and other ailments.æ On this alone, stubborn federal resistance to permitting limited use of marijuana would seem irrational, even cruel.

But that is only the beginning.æ Nine states, from conservative Arizona to liberal Alaska, have passed laws permitting the use of marijuana with a doctor’s prescription, and another 35 states approved of legislation acknowledging marijuana’s medical value.æ Thus to have the federal government so vigorously fighting to undermine the states in an area — the oversight of medical practice — that is otherwise left to local discretion, seems an inexplicable encroachment of Washington into the rights of states.

And now, as if more support were necessary, the U.S.æ Supreme Court has turned down a Bush administration request that the federal government be able to harass doctors merely for describing the benefits of medical marijuana to their patients.æ This was perhaps the most invidious government intrusion of all, since it went beyond the expected control of illicit substances into the control of ideas, of speech.æ Unable to counteract the evidence that proves the value of medical marijuana, the administration cravenly sought to control the communication of that evidence…

Go ahead. Read it.