Medical marijuana

People may soon have another reason to go to Hawaii as the Aloha state today announced the formation of a medical marijuana clinic. Marijuana, despite having some mind-altering properties, reportedly also has some medicinal properties such as stimulating the appetite, treating nausea and vomitting, and fighting pain. As you may know, the Supreme Court recently voted against the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The Court, in it's 6-3 decision, ruled against medical marijuana use because of social implications. In other words, the Court agreeed with the federal government that its anti-drug effort would be made more difficult if marijuana can be used by some patients.

What's my take on this? Well, I look for consistency in the argument. Why is marijuana illegal in the first place? Because it alters the mind in a way that can cause people to do dangerous things. OK, fine. But then why is alcohol legal? The government tried to ban alcohol once during the Prohibition, but people just defied the government and made their own alcohol in their bathtubs. Overall, it didn't work. Nowadays, you have so many people earning a living making alcoholic substances, that it is politically impossible to make alcohol illegal again. The bottom line is that there is a double standard in that alcohol is legal and marijuana is not. Because of this double standard, I don't see how you can ban marijuana, especially for medical purposes.

What do you think? I'd like to see some comments flowing on this blog.