On Friday, the Los Angeles Times came through with a blistering editorial on federal marijuana policy. The thing starts off strong …

For a muscular agency that combats vicious drug criminals, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration acts like a terrified and obstinate toddler when it comes to basic science. 

… and only gets stronger.

The occasion for the editorial was last week’s decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld the demon weed’s status as a Schedule I drug. The court’s decision hinged on the fact that it hadn’t seen scientific studies that demonstrate cannabis’ effectiveness as medicine; the Times rightly excoriates the DEA and other federal agencies for criminalizing such research. Chicken and egg.

(Housekeeping note: If you’re a close reader of our ”Elsewhere” section — the part that automatically brings you feeds from other news sources and blogs around the county — you’d have seen note of the Court of Appeals’ decision last week. That’s because we recently rejiggered things so that we can manually post links to stories of interest from outside the county. Good things are afoot, here — we’ve tentatively recruited one of our most solid tipsters and outside-story readers to serve as the official LoCO linkmeister.)