Terminally ill are not criminals

The Raich case is still dominating the drug war news today. Newsday weighs in with a good editorial. Here's the money quote.

Federal drug laws are rooted in the Constitution's commerce clause, which authorizes regulation of interstate trade. But the court has said that authority doesn't cover local, non-economic acts unless there's a commercial impact. That should apply to two California women whose marijuana wasn't commercially traded or shipped across state lines. There are plenty of legitimate fronts in the war on drugs. Sick people using marijuana with their doctors' blessings isn't one of them.

Amen.