MEDICAL POT PROPOSAL ON ITS WAY TO MICHIGAN'S BALLOT

Michiganders with chronic or debilitating diseases would be able to
possess and use marijuana legally under a proposal on its way to
state voters in November.

A state elections panel Monday certified petitions with 377,975
signatures backing the plan, well more than the 304,000 minimum
needed to put the initiative before voters if the Legislature fails
to act on it within the next 40 days.

Spokespeople for House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, and
Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, said Monday
afternoon that legislative action is unlikely.

"We will be letting the voters decide this one," said Greg Bird, an
aide to Dillon and House Democrats.

Dianne Byrum, a former lawmaker and spokeswoman for the Michigan
Coalition for Compassionate Care, the group that circulated the
petitions, said she has no expectation the Legislature will take up
the medical marijuana issue.

The initiative would amend Michigan law to allow seriously ill
patients to obtain a doctor's authorization to cultivate up to 12
marijuana plants and possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana.

Lynn Allen, a 51-year-old Williamston resident who contracted HIV and
hepatitis C from contaminated blood when he was being treated for
hemophilia, said he would like to have the option of using marijuana
as an alternative to the prescription drugs he takes, among them OxyContin.

"I think marijuana would help with the pain," said Allen, who has
arthritis and frequently uses a wheelchair. "Right now, I'm forced to
take an opiate. Marijuana is a much more benign kind of drug."

The movement to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes
has spread widely in the last decade. A dozen states permit it under
some circumstances.

The practice has been most controversial in California, where voters
authorized the sale of small amounts of marijuana at licensed co-ops.
Those operations have been targeted by U.S. law enforcement agencies
under federal law. Byrum said the proposed Michigan statute is silent
on the question of where the marijuana would come from, and does not
authorize sales.

"We're just trying to protect the patient from prosecution," she said.

The Michigan Coalition is backed by the national organization
Marijuana Policy Project. It provided nearly all of the $1.1 million
used to organize the campaign and collect petition signatures. Byrum
said she expects the fall campaign to rely more heavily on Michigan
resources, but no budget has been set.

Traditionally, opposition to medical marijuana has come from law
enforcement, especially national drug enforcement agencies. So far,
no organized opposition to the Michigan campaign for medical
marijuana has surfaced.