Pubdate: Tue, 02 Nov 2004
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2004 Associated Press
Author: Susan Gallagher, Associated Press
Cited: Initiative 148 http://www.montanacares.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Initiative+148
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

VOTERS PASS MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVE

HELENA -- Use of marijuana for medical reasons will be legal in Montana and 
tobacco users will see a tax increase, voters decided Tuesday in passing a 
pair of ballot measures Tuesday.

Initiative 148 allows the cultivation, possession and use of marijuana, in 
limited amounts, for medical purposes. The initiative shields patients, 
their doctors and caregivers from arrest and prosecution.

Initiative 149 will increase tobacco taxes by $45 million a year, 
allocating most of the money for new or existing health care programs.

Voters rejected a measure that would have lengthened the limits on 
legislators' terms.

With 91 of 881 precincts reporting, the vote on the marijuana initiative 
was 53,202 to 28,438, or 65 percent to 35 percent.

Passage was "just common sense," said Paul Befumo of Missoula, a leader in 
the campaign for the measure.

"I'm really thankful to Montana," Befumo said. "I think we did something 
good for ourselves, our neighbors and relatives who are sick." Fegumo said 
his father's suffering from fatal lung cancer two years ago may have been 
eased by the use of marijuana.

With 91 of 881 precincts reporting, the vote on the tobacco tax was 54,448 
to 27,086, or 67 percent to 33 percent.

Early returns found voters rejecting Constitutional Amendment 42, the 
measure to change legislators' term limits. With 91 of 881 precincts 
reporting, the vote was 52,646 opposed to 27,018 in favor, or 66 percent to 
34 percent.

The measure would have lengthened term limits from eight years in any 
16-year period to 12 years in any 24-year period.

Voters approved Constitutional Amendment 40, placing in the constitution a 
$10 million trust fund for combatting noxious weeds. Voters also passed a 
constitutional amendment protecting residents' ability to hunt and fish.

The declared outcomes of the elections were based on a statistical analysis 
of the vote from voter interviews conducted for The Associated Press by 
Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake