Congressman Ron Paul is co-sponsoring HR5842 (The Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act of 2008), which claims, "To provide for the medical use of marijuana in accordance with the laws of the various States".
Congressman Paul claims to be a constitutional expert but his legal skills are dismal. This act assumes that states do not already have the right to determine accepted medical practice. Worse yet, it singles out marijuana as if marijuana were the only thing states should have the right to regulate. As a constitutionalist and former Libertarian, Congressman Paul should be ashamed of putting his name on anything that takes away the rights the states already have under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The issue of whether states have the right to determine accepted medical practice was clearly explained by the U.S. Supreme Court in Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243 (2006). States do have this right under existing law, but the DEA is not enforcing it.
To make matters even worse, Congressman Paul is asking that marijuana be placed in Schedule 2 of the CSA. Schedule 2 says, "The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse; The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States or a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions; and Abuse of the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence."
The DEA needs to determine what schedule marijuana belongs in based on its current use in medical treatment in the United States. The twelve states that have accepted marijuana's medical use in treatment have all determined that marijuana is safe enough to allow patients to grow their own, which doesn't even come close to fitting the definition of a Schedule 2 controlled substance.
This is a bad bill folks and it is completely contrary to the legal arguments I have made in my state and federal rescheduling petitions.