Pubdate: Thu, 28 Oct 2004
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2004 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Cited: Office of National Drug Control Policy 
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org
Cited: Proposition 2 http://www.yeson2alaska.com/
Cited: Alaskans For Marijuana Regulation and Control 
http://www.regulatemarijuanainalaska.org/
Cited: Initiative 148 http://www.montanacares.org/
Cited: Measure 33 http://www.yeson33.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Measure+33
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Initiative+148
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/states/ak/ (Alaska)

MARIJUANA MEASURES ON 3 STATES' BALLOTS

WASHINGTON -- Alaska will become the first state to make marijuana legal if 
voters approve a measure on Tuesday's ballot that has drawn criticism from 
the Bush administration.

The Alaska proposal is the most provocative of three ballot measures in 
Western states aimed at easing restrictions on marijuana. Montana voters 
will consider a proposal to join nine other states in legalizing marijuana 
for medicinal use. And in Oregon -- which is one of the states that allows 
medical marijuana -- voters will weigh whether to allow patients and 
caregivers to grow and possess larger amounts of marijuana than are allowed 
now.

The measures have drawn fire from the White House, which has sent 
representatives to the states to campaign against the measures.

In Alaska, marijuana is in legal limbo. State courts have ruled that it is 
legal to possess up to 4 ounces of the leaf for personal use, but a 1990 
ballot initiative made marijuana possession a crime. Legislators say they 
will rework the state's marijuana laws to comply with the court rulings. 
Tuesday's initiative, however, proposes legalizing marijuana for those 21 
and older and regulating it as Alaska and other states do with cigarettes 
and alcohol.

Backers of the Alaska measure cast it as a way to help keep marijuana from 
youths. "We believe ... we can reduce teen access to marijuana with a 
regulatory system," said David Finkelstein of Alaskans for Marijuana 
Regulation and Control. "It is clear that prohibition hasn't worked."

Government officials -- including Scott Burns of the White House Office of 
National Drug Control Police, who visited Alaska recently -- have countered 
with an anti-marijuana message. "Those people who are pushing these 
measures look at is as a freedom issue," he said. "But they don't see ... 
the addiction issue, the dysfunction in families, the treatment problems. 
Nobody can tell me what the upside is of making marijuana more available."

The Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., has helped the Alaskan 
activists by creating TV commercials and buying airtime for them. The ads 
emphasize privacy rights and accuse the government of wasting money in 
pursuing those with small amounts of marijuana. The local group has 
received donations from about 1,000 local donors, but the bulk of its 
funding, $854,813 as of Tuesday, has come from the Marijuana Policy Project 
(MPP), Finkelstein said.

"There was a strong local movement and we wanted to be of help," MPP 
spokesman Bruce Mirken said.

A poll conducted this month for the activists found that the ballot 
initiative was trailing by at least 8 percentage points.

In Montana, a medical marijuana initiative that would make the drug 
available to patients with a doctor's prescription has received strong 
support in several polls.

Paul Befumo, an investment adviser in Missoula who helps lead the campaign 
for the initiative, got involved after his father died of cancer. His 
father was overcome by nausea and lost weight during treatment, which left 
him weak and unable to recover, Befumo said. Marijuana might have improved 
his appetite, he said.

Montana Gov. Judy Martz, a Republican, opposes the measure.

The Oregon measure would modify the state's medical marijuana law that was 
passed in 1998 to allow patients to have up to a pound of marijuana and 10 
plants at one time. It also would require the state to license non-profit 
groups to be marijuana distributors. The measure is opposed by the state's 
medical association, district attorneys and the White House. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake