Cato Daily Dispatch for October 15, 2003
Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch via email
Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch via PDA (AvantGo)
(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)
High Court Declines to Review Medical Marijuana CaseFDA Reconsiders Breast Implants
Judicial Screening for a Web Porn Law
High Court Declines to Review Medical Marijuana Case
"The Supreme Court, in a silent rebuff on Tuesday to federal policy on medical marijuana, let stand an appeals court ruling that doctors may not be investigated, threatened or punished by federal regulators for recommending marijuana as a medical treatment for their patients," The New York Times reports.
"As a result, doctors in California and six other Western states where voters or legislators have approved marijuana for medical uses like pain relief may now discuss it freely with their patients without fear of jeopardizing their federal licenses to prescribe drugs. Advocates of medical marijuana greeted the court's action as a significant and surprising victory."
The Cato Handbook for Congress chapter on the War on Drugs states: "If it is inappropriate for governors and mayors to entangle themselves in foreign policy-and it is-it is also inappropriate for federal officials to entangle themselves in state and local politics. In the 107th Congress, Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), and Ron Paul (R-Tex.) jointly proposed the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act, which would have prohibited federal interference with any state that chose to enact a medical marijuana policy. The 108th Congress should enact a similar bill without delay."
FDA Reconsiders Breast Implants
"U.S. advisers are set to decide on Wednesday if they will recommend approval of a California company's bid to return silicone breast implants (SBIs) to the market after an 11-year ban," Reuters reports.
"The Food and Drug Administration advisory panel heard hours of testimony Tuesday from women who said silicone implants had leaked and caused disabling sickness. Others said the implants were a safe, natural-looking option that should be available for rebuilding womens' breasts after cancer surgery or for cosmetic purposes."
In "How NOW on Implants?" Adjunct Scholar Steven Milloy writes: "The National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine panel reviewed the existing scientific literature on SBIs -- well more than 1,000 published studies -- and concluded the weight of evidence does not support an association between SBIs and autoimmune disease, dysfunction of the immune system, connective tissue/rheumatic disease, cancer, neurological disease or adverse effects on breastfeeding infants, though local complications may occur in some women."
Judicial Screening for a Web Porn Law
"The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will decide whether a 1998 law designed to shield children from Internet pornography violates the First Amendment, propelling a six-year-old legal battle over free speech in cyberspace into what might be a conclusive phase," The Washington Post reports.
"The Child Online Protection Act (COPA), passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton, makes it a crime for a commercial Web site to put material that is 'harmful to minors' where children younger than 17 can gain access to it, unless the site has made a good faith effort to screen out all but adult users."
In "Internet Privacy and Self-Regulation: Lessons from the Porn Wars," Adjunct Scholar Tom W. Bell writes: "Legislation protecting Internet privacy offers little benefit. Moreover, the potential costs of such legislation are high. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 does not give much encouragement on that count, as it has increased legal uncertainty, raised the expense of providing online services, and even forced some companies out of the market for young Internet users. A more comprehensive statute, covering not just the privacy of children but also that of adults, might well generate more comprehensive problems."
Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org