Drug laws send mixed message
Inter Lake editorial
The recent announcement by the Montana Department of Corrections that parolees can smoke marijuana may have seemed like a drug-induced phantasm to the more level-headed among us, but it wasn't.
Instead, it was the (hopefully) unintended consequence of the 2004 ballot initiative that legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in Montana.
Of course, we argued all along that the 2004 initiative sent a mixed message about drug use to our citizenry, and this just adds to the muddle. All drug use, after all, is to some extent medicinal in purpose; it's just that it is usually self-prescribed instead of at the recommendation of a doctor.
Nonetheless, society has long considered it prudent to restrict certain drugs because of their impact on society as a whole. You can't really justify saying that marijuana is harmful in general but helpful in the specific, since each use of it is specific. Many good people have been arrested for using marijuana who represented no personal threat to society or anyone else, but they were nonetheless guilty of crimes and so convicted.
Even today, federal laws against marijuana possession or use remain in effect in Montana, and no exemption is provided for users who have a "medical marijuana card" in their possession. Just last month, federal agents arrested a distributor of legal marijuana in California and he now faces a variety of charges. And several California counties have been taking action to increase restrictions on medical marijuana beyond what state law currently allows. This is clearly not a settled issue.
As for the specifics of the Montana case, we wonder exactly why the state of Montana should spend money to convict and incarcerate drug offenders only to watch them get out of prison and use a variety of excuses (back pain, migraine headaches, you name it) to resume their drug use LEGALLY. Talk about mixed messages!
In any case, it seems like the Department of Corrections ought to have fought harder against this by taking the matter to court, instead of just surrendering to the easiest course of action. After all, if parole and probation conditions can include standard restrictions against use of alcohol or against setting foot inside taverns (both of which are legal otherwise), there ought to be a way to restrict use of medical marijuana for these folks as well.