'GOD CREATED THIS PLANT TO USE'

Minister Collecting Signatures To Put Legalizing Marijuana On Ballot

BENZONIA - A licensed minister and former pot smoker is pushing a ballot
measure to legalize marijuana.

The Rev. Steve Thompson - a self-described "old hippie" who had smoked
marijuana for "a good many years" - believes the cannabis hemp plant could
save the family farm. Hemp has many uses, he said, including for paper,
fuel and clothing.

The Benzonia resident is the director of the Benzie County Chapter of the
National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws.

The group is circulating petitions asking for signatures to place a
referendum on the November 2002 ballot that would make marijuana legal in
Michigan for medical, personal and industrial use.

Thompson said he no longer smokes marijuana but does eat hemp granola and
hemp butter, both made with portions of the cannabis hemp plant, the same
plant grown to manufacture marijuana.

He also advocates using hemp fiber for clothing and hemp fuel.

"I've had a pair of hemp socks for five years. You can't wear them out,"
Thompson said.

Hemp can be used in building supplies, cloth, paper, oils, paints, cereal,
animal feed and fuel, Thompson said. The plant grows quickly and does not
require the pesticides and fertilizers other crops do, he said.

Thompson and other members of the group are distributing pamphlets citing
their reasons for wanting marijuana legalized, including one brochure
called "Marijuana and Christianity," which lists passages that the group
claims support their cause.

"I never believed this plant was evil. After all, God created this plant
for people to use," Thompson said.

The Full Gospel Assemblies International, the organization that licensed
Thompson as a minister, disagrees.

"Full Gospel Assemblies does not promote the legalization of marijuana nor
the use of any illegal substance," said Simeon Strauser, minister of
administration for the Pennsylvania-based organization.

Strauser also said the group "does not promote the use of scripture for
such purposes."

Other members of the clergy also believe Thompson may be going too far in
using the Bible to promote marijuana legalization.

Pastor Jim Helman of Feast of Victory Lutheran Church in Acme said he
understands the group's theory that God created the plant, therefore it
cannot be evil, but does not agree with Thompson's reasoning.

"I see what he's (Thompson) getting at," Helman said, "but, boy, that is
stretching it."

Every plant does have some beneficial use, Helman said, but "not all plants
are beneficial for human beings."

The Bible does say God gave people plants to use, but "it doesn't say he
gives us the plants to smoke," Helman said.

Law enforcement agencies, too, find the group's logic flawed.

Lt. Chet Wilson, commanding officer of the Traverse Narcotics Team, called
the group's reasoning "nothing more than a smoke screen."

Even legalizing marijuana to smoke for medicinal purposes would worsen drug
problems in the state, Wilson said.

"If marijuana is recommended as so-called medicine, how will you refuse to
allow employees to use their drugs in the workplace?" he said.

"Any attempt to stop such use or refusal to employ a drug user may be seen
as a violation of employees' rights under the Americans with Disabilities
Act," Wilson said.

Thompson said the uses and benefits of the plant outweigh the possible
problems of legalization.

"I think the best legacy I could leave to my children and grandchildren is
to decriminalize this plant," Thompson said.