BLACKS IN CALIFORNIA SPLIT OVER MARIJUANA MEASURE

SACRAMENTO - Ron Allen says he knows all too well the ravages of drug
addiction.

"I was a pastor on crack cocaine, sir," said Mr. Allen, who says he has
been sober for 11 years and now identifies himself as the bishop of the
International Faith Based Coalition here. "Drugs have no religious preference."

And while crack cocaine laid him low, Mr. Allen says his first drug of
choice was marijuana. So it is that Mr. Allen and a cadre of other black
pastors, priests and other religious leaders have bonded together in recent
weeks to fight what they see as a potentially devastating blow to their
communities: Proposition 19, the California ballot measure that would tax
and regulate marijuana.

In doing so, Mr. Allen and his followers have opened a new, potentially
crucial front in the battle over Proposition 19, pitting those afraid of
more widespread use of the drug versus those who see legalization as "an
exit strategy in the war on marijuana."

Mr. Allen has been particularly critical of Alice A. Huffman, the president
of the California branch of the N.A.A.C.P., who has been vocal in her
support for the measure, casting it as a potential victory for civil rights
that could help reduce the number of young black men jailed on
marijuana-related offenses.

"I'm not encouraging anyone to recreationally use marijuana," said Ms.
Huffman. "I am simply focused on the injustice and the disparities in the
criminal justice system."

How black voters in California decide on Proposition 19, which would allow
anyone 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, could be
critical to its success or failure. (At the moment, possession of more than
28.5 grams of marijuana, about an ounce, is punishable in most cases by up
to six months in prison and a $500 fine.)

Blacks make up less than 10 percent of the population in California, but
unlike two larger minority groups in the state where opinions on the
measure are also split - Asians and Latinos - their "participation in
elections is on par with their populations," according to the California
Voter Foundation, a nonprofit group here.

In the case of Proposition 19 - which is trailing narrowly in a recent
Field Poll - appeals to that potential swing bloc have already begun, and
the measure's backers have been seeking out the support of prominent black
leaders. Last week, proponents secured what they view as a major
endorsement, that of Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the former United States surgeon
general and the first black to hold that position.

In a statement to be published in a voter guide, Dr. Elders said the
legalization bill would help divert law enforcement resources to more
serious threats. "We can let police prevent violent crime, or we can accept
the status quo, and keep wasting resources sending tens of thousands of
nonviolent marijuana consumers - a disproportionate number who are
minorities - to jail," Dr. Elders wrote.

Kamala D. Harris, the San Francisco district attorney, who is black, joined
the opposition last week. Ms. Harris, who is running for state attorney
general, issued a statement saying that the proposition would encourage
"driving while high" and drugs in the workplace.

Enforcement of marijuana possession laws is a touchy topic among many
blacks here and nationwide.

This month, the Drug Policy Alliance - a New York group that is supporting
Proposition 19 - released a study showing that blacks were arrested for
possession at far higher rates than whites in California's 25 largest
counties, often two or three times higher. In those 25 counties, blacks
make up 7 percent of the population but accounted for 20 percent of the
marijuana possession arrests; in Los Angeles County, which accounts for
about a quarter of the state's population, blacks were arrested for
marijuana possession at three times the rate of whites.

At the moment, 1,515 people are in California prisons on marijuana charges,
750 of them black, state corrections officials say.

The study's author, Harry G. Levine, a professor of sociology at Queens
College who has discovered similar trends in marijuana arrests in New York
City, said that the impact of those arrests could be profound.

"A criminal record lasts a lifetime," Mr. Levine wrote. "The explosive
growth of criminal record databases, and the ease with which those
databases can be accessed on the Internet, creates barriers to employment,
housing and education for anyone simply arrested for drug possession."

Rob MacCoun, a professor of law and public policy at the University of
California, Berkeley, who has studied marijuana use in America, said there
was little doubt that blacks - particularly black men - bore the brunt of
arrests for marijuana.

"The arrest statistics are disproportionate with respect to
African-Americans and disproportionate with respect to use," said Mr.
MacCoun. "And that's very hard to justify in any way."

And while Mr. MacCoun said he was not certain that a ballot measure was the
way to address that inequity, he said the positioning of Proposition 19 as
a civil rights issue could be a potent selling point.

"I don't think it's decisive for all voters," Mr. MacCoun said. "But I
think it's an important argument, and I think it's going to carry weight
with some people."

Mr. MacCoun was one of several authors of a report issued this month by the
RAND Corporation that found that legalization could double the use of the
drug in California - of the 15 million Americans who regularly use
marijuana, the study found, about 1.9 million of them, or 13 percent, are
in California - and slash the price by up to 80 percent.

Opponents of Proposition 19 seized on the report as evidence of the
potential damage of legalization. They were also cheered by the Field Poll,
taken on July 9, which showed that support for the measure had dropped to
44 percent, with 48 percent disapproving, equal to national levels of
support for legalization.

The poll found only 40 percent of black voters backing the proposition with
52 percent opposed. But white people are supporting the measure, 48 to 43
percent.

Mr. MacCoun cautioned that polls could be deceptive on the issue, because
of the longtime stigma surrounding drug use.

"If you get called on the phone, people may be uncomfortable saying that
they support a marijuana initiative," he said. "But for years, I've had
people come up to me - grown-ups in corporate America - and say to me,
sotto voce, 'If it were up to me, I'd legalize it.' "

On the ground, meanwhile, Mr. Allen and his followers have continued to
campaign against the referendum. At a recent rally on the steps of the
state capitol here, several pastors used fiery language to rally a small
crowd, calling for Ms. Huffman's resignation, describing marijuana as "the
most sinister drug," and asking that "the demonic spirits be cast back into
hell."

"How stupid to think that by legalizing a vice it's going to help the
situation," said Darryl B. Heath, pastor of St. John Baptist Missionary
Baptist Church in Sacramento. "This is not a game. A whole generation is at
stake."

For her part, Ms. Huffman shows no signs of backing off her support for the
proposition, saying her critics "have got their heads in the sand" when it
comes to the reality of drug use, and enforcement, in America.

She also scoffed at the notion that she would bend to their calls for her
resignation.

"Why in the world would I allow a bunch of locals who don't amount to
anything run me out of office?" she said. "When they come up with a
solution, they can look me up."

Malia Wollan contributed reporting from San Francisco.