WILL VA CANDIDATE'S GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGN WORK? IT'S POT LUCK

(Springfield) -- Third-party candidates are always forced to run a
grassroots campaign. But Libertarian Gary Reams has taken the adage
literally, running a campaign based solely on marijuana reform.

The Reams Reeferendum, as he calls it, is designed to give voters an
opportunity to express support for ending the prohibition on marijuana use.

Technically, Reams is running for lieutenant governor against Republican
Jay Katzen and Democrat Tim Kaine. But Reams is doing everything he can to
turn has campaign into the equivalent of a referendum question on marijuana
reform.

He's on the ballot for lieutenant governor because he considers it a
largely ceremonial post. The lieutenant governor can break ties in the
Senate, but Reams has pledged not to cast any decidingvotes, unless the
issue deals with marijuana. If the governor dies, he has pledged to resign
immediately, so that a legitimate successor can be chosen.

He has positions on other issues, but only to the degree that they are
related to marijuana. Transportation woes? Think of the all the money that
could be used for roads and bridges if weweren't locking people up for
marijuana possession. Gun control? Much of the violence would be eliminated
if marijuana were legalized, he says.

"The reality is that the Commonwealth does not have a ballot initiative,"
Reams said. "Our only recourse is to run our campaign as a referendum."

Reams, 45, a Lorton resident who works for a telecommunications supplier,
had been an active Democrat until he joined the Libertarian Party in 1992.
He ran for Congress as a Libertarian in 1996, but said his current campaign
has drawn far greater interest.

"I've spoken at universities where we've had 400 or 500 students," he said.
"And, really, our support is across the board. We've had young people,
seniors. ... We have professionals in substance abuse, law enforcement,
education - they all see the need for this reform."

Reams said he does not smoke marijuana now but did experiment with the
substance in his youth.

At first glance, conservative Virginia might not appear to be fertile
ground for a campaign to legalize marijuana. But Reams pointed out that
Virginia passed legislation in 1979 that prohibits the state from
prosecuting doctors, patients and pharmacists for the use of medical
marijuana. Last year, the legislature approved a study of the use of
industrial hemp.

"Ending prohibition should appeal to conservatives. Prohibition is a big
government solution," he said. "It corrupts government. When you have
millions of people flouting the law, that's not agood thing. When citizens
see law enforcement as the enemy, that's an unhealthy thing."

Reams favors legalizing marijuana entirely, but is also seeking the support
of those who favor more limited reform, such as the use of medical
marijuana or allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp.

He said he'll consider the campaign a success even if he gets just 3 or 4
percent of the vote, which would be a little higher than what a third-party
candidate typically garners.

Nationally, a few candidates have made marijuana their sole issue, said
Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) Foundation. In New York, Thomas Leighton
is running for New York City mayor on the Marijuana Reform Party line.

Generally, single-issue marijuana candidates have not been very successful,
St. Pierre said.

"In American politics, single-issue candidates have generally not been well
received unless it's guns or abortion," he said.

But he said that neither Democrats nor Republicans are willing to consider
the issue, even as it gains public support, so he expects candidates like
Reams to be more successful in the future.

Kaine and Katzen, Reams' opponents for lieutenant governor, do not support
legalizing marijuana.