As the Family Research Council boasts another victory in the recent Supreme Court ruling against Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative on the issue of medicinal marijuana, let us examine closer at what all the boasting is about. "The medical marijuana lobby is nothing more than a front for the drug legalization movement,� Family Research Council�s Vice President for Policy Robert Maginnis said Monday. �Today�s unanimous Supreme Court decision is a major strike against legalizers� crusade to skirt federal drug laws.� Bypassing Mr. Maginnis' first comment momentarily, we are to understand that it is FRC's understanding, by the Supreme Court's decision to rule against the buyer's cooperative that it is a major setback for legalizers.
Not exactly.
"Although the Supreme Court has ruled that the medical necessity defense cannot be used to avoid a federal conviction for marijuana, a state government may still allow its residents to possess, grow, or distribute medical marijuana," said Chuck Thomas, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, which coordinates efforts to pass medical marijuana bills in state legislatures. MPP also submitted an amicus brief in the Oakland case. While FRC gloats over its victory it can easily be viewed as a shallow victory at best. Compensation for those that had hoped for a different ruling can be gleaned from the fact that this case shed some much needed light on the issue of medicinal marijuana. Going back to Mr. Maginnis' first comment in the FRC Press Release pertaining to the OCBC case - "The medical marijuana lobby is nothing more than a front for the drug legalization movement,�. To disregard the thousands of suffering patients that have found relief only in the consumption of the God created, seed-bearing plant we call marijuana is blindly judgmental. This, coming from a representative of an organization that has dedicated itself to upholding Judeo Christian principles. Judging is not a Christian principle, for where you find judgment, you will find a lack of love, mercy and compassion � which is what Christians are commanded to give to not only to the sick and dying but everyone else as well. For where you find love, mercy and compassion, you will find Jesus. Where you find judgment, you won't find Jesus. Leaving one to wonder what principles and who's agenda the Family Research Council is actually upholding. Christian beware...