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May 22, 2015      4:44 PM

Smith: Medical Marijuana and a Lesson in Political Morality and Courage

From the Left: QR’s liberal columnist Glenn W. Smith argues that lawmakers too often treat real people as bureaucratic abstractions and recalls a lesson in political courage from 35 years ago that should give us pause.

The Texas Legislature – yes, that legislature – passed a limited medical marijuana bill that will give epilepsy sufferers access to cannabis oil. It is a small but important progressive step forward.

The passage of this bill reminded me of a 1980 story of judicial compassion and political courage I was lucky enough to break as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle.

Moved by the suffering of a cancer patient in Trinity, Texas, State District Judge Erwin “Ernie” Ernst ordered the Walker County sheriff to retrieve confiscated marijuana from the sheriff’s vault and give it to the cancer sufferer. Marijuana was known to relieve the extreme nausea of chemotherapy – but it’s use for even that purpose remained outlawed.

Before ascending to the bench, Ernst had been a tough prosecutor in Houston. Let’s just say he wasn’t known for coddling criminals. And the cancer patient he moved to help was certainly no criminal. He was a middle-aged East Texan who wouldn’t have known a marijuana plant if he’d stepped on one.

To read the complete column from Glenn W. Smith, click on the R&D Department.

By Glenn W. Smith