Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Source: The Arizona Republic
Contact:  http://www.azcentral.com/indexmain.html
Author: Mike McCloy

GROUP FIGHTS LISTING OF DRUGS

Arizona lawmakers on Wednesday refused to remove references to heroin, LSD
and PCP from their official description of a referendum on legalizing
marijuana.

A medical-marijuana group is going to court Friday to have the words edited
out of the publicity pamphlet for the Nov. 3 general election.

The Legislative Council's description for voters says that Proposition 300
would limit a 1996 initiative by Arizonans for Drug Policy Reform that
legalizes not only marijuana but LSD, heroin, PCP and other Schedule One
drugs.

Lawmakers amended the 1996 initiative last year with House Bill 2518, which
blocked legalization of any street drugs in Arizona unless Congress
approves marijuana for medical use.

Renaming themselves The People Have Spoken, pot proponents gathered
signatures again this year to reverse the Legislature's changes in their
initiative by referring HB 2518 to the ballot.

The People Have Spoken said that lawmakers were wrong in tampering with a
law passed by the voters and were unfair early this month in writing their
official description of the referendum.

The publicity pamphlet is scheduled to be printed Tuesday by the Secretary
of State's Office.

The Legislative Council's official description of the initiative in 1996
did not mention LSD, heroin, PCP (a psychedelic drug) or Schedule One drugs
other than marijuana, said lawyer Jack LaSota. So, he said, these words
should not be used to describe the referendum.

Voting 9-0, the Legislative Council kept the references to LSD and heroin
but changed the official description of the referendum to include "certain
analogues of PCP." Some chemical variations of PCP are listed in federal
schedules of illegal drugs.

Sam Vagenas, spokesman for The People Have Spoken, said the group will ask
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Howe to delete hard drugs from
the ballot description.

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