The Bush administration is (AP reports) appealing a federal court ruling blocking the investigation and punishment of doctors who recommend marijuana to their patients. The source of the controversy is a policy put in place by the Clinton administration (yes, this is a piece of bipartisan stupidity) that would require such doctors to lose their federal prescription licenses. This is, of course, nonsense – and cruel nonsense at that. Remember that we are not talking here about doctors who actually ‘prescribe’ (or otherwise procure) pot for their patients. Rather, what is being penalized here is the giving of medical advice – something that doctors are meant to do. If the Feds think that such advice is negligent, they should say so, but on that topic they seem curiously silent.

The ruling that has caused the trouble comes from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco (usually, bad guys, I seem to recall, but never mind) which held that doctors should be able to give advice to their patients without fear of sanction. The should only be punished if they actually help their patients obtain the drug. Until the moment that pot is – as it should be – legalized, that seems like a fair compromise. The Justice Department should be ashamed of itself.