A couple of Sundays ago, we ran a front-page story about the difficulties patients face while trying to obtain marijuana for approved medical uses.
A little deeper in the paper, we published the court records, which included mention of one man's brief jail sentence for marijuana possession, presumably for non-approved uses.
A handful of news pages separated the two items, but it occurred to us there's a potential connection that might reap real benefits.
Patients are caught in a Catch-22, where it's legal to possess marijuana and use it as medicine, but practically impossible to obtain it legally.
Meanwhile, what happens to the illegal user's supply?
No doubt, confiscated marijuana is destroyed as soon as it's no longer needed as evidence.
Why not make it available to a legitimate user instead?
Sure, it's a little odd to think of saddling police with the task of providing marijuana to individuals, even with a doctor's approval.
And there might be some legal hurdles to clear, especially since the federal government has a different outlook than many states on the medicinal use of marijuana.
To read the complete editorial, visit The Tri-City Herald.