VICTORY IS JUST A PIPE DREAM

Candidate Pushes His 'Reeferendum'

Gary Reams' "grass" roots push to reform marijuana laws isn't about
winning the lieutenant governor's race Nov. 6: He knows he won't.

But running a single-issue campaign is the only way voters will get
the chance to protest what he calls "egregious and inhumane" laws that
hog-tie doctors and punish recreational users, he said.

"There's a growing constituency that aren't being listened to," the
Libertarian said Thursday. "Marijuana laws have gone too far."

Reams, 45, lived in Prince William County for 17 years before moving
to Fairfax County a few years ago. He characterizes his unusual
campaign as a "reeferendum" designed to give Virginia something its
citizens don't have under state law: the power to place a referendum
on the ballot. His ultimate goal is to effect reform of marijuana
laws, he says, not to propose specific legislation at the state or
federal level.

Politicians typically ignore the issue or refuse to take a stand,
Reams said, because "they're afraid of losing votes."

Marijuana, considered a schedule 1 drug under federal law, has been
used to treat symptoms of glaucoma and nausea associated with
chemotherapy. In more recent years, it has been used by AIDS patients
to stimulate appetite.

Al Byrne, co-founder of Howardsville-based Patients Out of Time said
the group's exclusive purpose is to promote the use of cannabis as
medicine.

Support for the use of medicinal marijuana is strong, Byrne said. He
cited a a 2000 Virginia Tech "Quality of Life" survey undertaken
annually for the Legislative Review, in which 78 percent of
respondents favored such use.

"[Patients] are using it," he said. "I get calls all day long. I get
e-mails all day long from people who are using cannabis and all of
them are using it illegally."

The Virginia Farm Bureau, a nongovernmental voluntary agency, also
endorses the legal growth of low-grade industrial hemp as a cash crop.

"It's regarded in many parts of the world as an agricultural crop and
it was in this country years ago," said Spencer Neale, senior
assistant director of the Farm Bureau's commodity department.

Hemp, derived from the cannabis sativa plant, is used for rope,
plastics, building products and paper products, Neale said. The oil
that can be drawn from the seed is used in shampoo and makeup products.

"The true form of industrial hemp is definitely an agricultural crop.
We support research to look at its viability as a cash crop," he said,
but added resistance from the federal level to such measures is strong.

Virginia legislators, however, side with the Farm Bureau. In its most
recent session, the General Assembly passed a bill requesting the
Department of Agriculture, the Virginia Economic Development
Partnership, the Department of Environmental Quality and the Virginia
State Police to develop guidelines for the growth and production of
industrial hemp.

Reams says the cost of keeping marijuana illegal has never been
measured, but he estimated a conservative figure of about $200 million
a year in Virginia - which doesn't include lost revenues from the
cultivation of hemp and other ventures.

"Nonusers are carrying the burden of prohibition," Reams said. "There
are 700,000 arrests [nationwide] annually. [Those resources] could
have been used to fight real crime."

Reams, who has smoked marijuana but no longer does, says he's always
"felt strongly" about legalizing marijuana and now sees a growing
groundswell of support for such change.

"This is an opportunity for voters to really make a difference," Reams
said. "It's going to carry forward, and I'm going to carry that
message forward also."