Here’s something to applaud Barack Obama for.

Unlike George Bush, who made a habit of sending the FBI and the DEA after medical marijuana providers, Obama’s Administration is taking a much more enlightened approach.

The Justice Department is telling federal prosecutors not to bother cracking down on people who are using or selling medical marijuana in accordance with state laws.

Fourteen states allow marijuana for medical purposes, as they should. This is a drug that prevents glaucoma, reduces nausea in cancer patients and patients suffering from AIDS and other diseases, and may even be helpful as a treatment for brain cancer.

Barney Frank has introduced (H.R. 2835) a bill that would prohibit the federal government from prosecuting medical marijuana use in states that have legalized it.

If that were to pass, there would be no need for Obama’s new policy.

Similarly, we wouldn’t need it if the federal government legalized marijuana for medical purposes in all 50 states, as it should.

Doctors and patients should have the best medicine at their disposal, no matter where they live.

There’s no reason, in this day and age, that people should suffer pain because of some terrible disease when marijuana can relieve that pain.

Barack Obama isn’t there yet. But at least his Administration recognizes that there are more important things to do than cracking down on medical marijuana in states that have already legalized it. And that is indeed progress.

For more information, go to the Marijuana Policy Project at www.mpp.org.