MARIJUANA BALLOT PROPOSAL IN THE WORKS

Group Seeks OK To Use Small Amounts Of Drug

LANSING -- Advocates for the decriminalization of possessing
marijuana in Michigan are preparing to begin another petition drive,
in hopes of placing the issue before voters in 2002.

A group called PRAyes will ask state officials Friday to approve the
form of petitions to be used in the drive. It plans to kick off the
campaign at a national symposium in Ann Arbor the day before the
annual Hash Bash on April 7.

Petition drive director Greg Schmid, a Saginaw attorney who also
coordinated an unsuccessful marijuana petition drive last year, said
the new effort will have the benefit of experience, time and changing
public attitudes.

"We're not encouraging the use of drugs. We're attacking the
intolerance of the failed war on drugs," he said.

"It's time to put prohibition on the trash heap of history."

The ballot proposal would amend the Michigan Constitution to
decriminalize the at-home possession of small amounts (3 ounces) of
marijuana and three live marijuana plants. It would also change
forfeiture laws to direct the proceeds from drug, gambling and
alcohol seizures toward programs for the treatment of addiction.

Schmid said the measure is intended to authorize personal possession
and use of marijuana by adults. It would remain illegal for "kids, in
cars and in public," he said.

Schmid said a core group of volunteers who participated in last
year's failed drive are ready to begin, with county directors in half
of Michigan's 83 counties. He said the group also will benefit from a
summer-long collection effort. In 2000, the signature collection
operation was forced to begin in worse weather in order to meet tight
deadlines for the fall election.

PRAyes needs the signatures of 302,711 registered voters to qualify
for the ballot. No petition drive has qualified for the state ballot
in more than a decade without the use of paid signature collectors,
something Schmid said PRAyes cannot afford. It does have a Web site,
www.PRAyes.com.

But he said he is encouraged by the experience in other states in
recent years. In the 2000 election, voters in Colorado and Nevada
approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes. And both Oregon
and Utah adopted forfeiture reforms.