Marijuana; Oregon Supreme CourtThis is a featured page

A dark stain has fallen over our great state, an injustice that threatens to destroy all that we as Oregonians feel strongly in. We call home to a state that encourages and even advocates diversity. The fact that we have so many different views and opinion and are free to voice them all, is a testament of our great worth as a collective people. Oregon is home to free thinkers, people not wanting to conform to the statuesque of society. We are happy to be different and in our differences we make our country a stronger nation. The Oregon Supreme Court ruled against the citizens of Oregon and all we stand for in their latest ruling against Medical Marijuana users. The courts opinion made headlines across the state and the nation. While surfing the web, The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog caught my attention. The very first sentence of the article summed the entire direction the piece was heading, “For supporters of legalizing of medical marijuana, yesterday was not a good day.” (Koppel) Legalizing? Where have you been the last twelve years? Oregonians through our initiative process gathered signatures, got the initiative on the ballot and with the votes of over 611,000 registered Oregon voters passed it into Oregon Law. The heresy that seven of our justices committed was not upholding the will of the people. Thomas Jefferson once said, “The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.” (Jefferson) Oregonians have made it very clear, Medical Marijuana use is not a criminal act in the State of Oregon. One of the few voices of reason and sanity left on the Oregon Supreme Court is Justice Martha Lee Walter. Though in the minority, she wrote, “I do not understand why, in our system of duel sovereigns, Oregon must fly only in federal formation and not, as Oregon’s motto provides, “with her own wings.” ORS 186.040. Therefore, I cannot join in a decision by which we, as state court judges, enjoin the policies of our own state and preclude our legislature from making its own independent decisions about the conduct to criminalize.” (Warncke). It is up to our Legislative Branch of Oregon Government to enact laws to govern its citizens. The Judicial Branch is there to enforce said laws not legislate from the bench. The main defense of the courts ruling is that Oregon Law goes against Federal Law pertaining to the status of Marijuana as an illegal drug. The problem with this argument is the Oregon Supreme Court has ruled before that Oregon Law trumped Federal Law in cases like, State land Board v. United States, 222 Or. 40, 352 P.2d 539 (1960) and State v. De Jonge, 152 Or. 315, 51 P.2d 674 (1935). (Wikipedia, “Oregon Supreme Court.”) A side effect of the decision of the Oregon Supreme Court has made tens of thousand of law abiding Oregonians liable to lose their jobs. Oregon as many other states, have an increasing problem with unemployment. Maybe the justices didn’t get the memo that the nation is in the middle of a recession and in severe economic trouble. The witch hunt is about to begin. Any employer that disagreed with the legal passing of the Medical Marijuana Act in 1998, now has the opportunity to “weed out” individuals they deem unworthy to have in their employ. It seems ridiculous to have to defend the will of the people of Oregon. The Medical Marijuana Act was passed into law legally. The citizens of this great state were not uneducated on the facts pertaining to Medical Marijuana. To the contrary, some very educated top ranking officials in the government weighed in on the discussion. “The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS – or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day.” Jocelyn Elders, MD, former United States Surgeon General. (ProCon, “Elders.”) The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young wrote, “The evidence in this record (9-6-88 ruling) clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record.” (ProCon, “Young.”) For these seven justices to feel superior to the very people who elected them into office is unbelievable to me. In a single stroke of their pens they silenced all the experts and worse yet disenfranchised over a half million voters. I find it amusing how a drug synthesized from opium and is known to have a high risk of causing users to undergo severe withdrawals when discontinued not to mention side effects including anxiety, nausea, insomnia and flu like symptoms, can be prescribed everyday to Oregonians by their physicians. Oxycodone or “Hillbilly Heroin,” is quickly becoming the most sought after pharmaceutical drug for illicit drug users. It is not uncommon to hear on our nightly news of a pharmacy being robbed in the greater Portland Metropolitan area. It is an epidemic across the nation, but if you have a prescription for this legal drug and your employer requires a drug test from you, no problem. Oxycodone is not tested for in drug tests even though the effects of being under the influence are arguably greater than those of Medical Marijuana. It makes me wonder, does being under the influence at work have anything to do with it, or is the problem just Marijuana itself? In the Trucking Industry it is illegal for the driver to be under the influence of any prescription medication that impairs the judgment and performance of the operator. Medical Marijuana should not have been brought up in this lawsuit brought before the Oregon Supreme Court. It is a legal prescription in Oregon just like Oxycodone. Both medications should not be taken in situations were the side effects of the prescriptions impair judgment and put the user and others at risk of injury. Oregon will come out on top of this crisis. The people of this great state are too residual and unique to allow this speed bump to derail the progress made over hundreds of years of marching to our own drummer. One only has to look as far as Ashland to see how unique we are. The city made headlines when a new visitor came to town. The visitor was nothing special; he was just a 70 year old man. What some might call unusual is he spent his afternoons roaming around Ashland in the nude. The words of Ashland’s Police Chief said it best, “To the best of our knowledge he’s never violated any public indecency laws.” Police Chief Terry Holderness said. (Associated Press) Love it or hate it, Oregon is here to stay.

By Joe Gallagher


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Legalizing Marijuana: the lesser evil?