INITIATIVE SEEKS TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Win-The-War Wants to Put Issue on Ballot

Marijuana would be sold and regulated in Michigan the same as liquor
under a proposal activists are hoping to get on the 2006 ballot.

Win-the-War, an activist group based in Sterling Heights, started
gathering signatures last month to put the initiative legalizing
marijuana before voters. The group's petition wording was approved
Thursday by the Board of State Canvassers.

If approved, the citizens' initiative would push Michigan further than
any other state toward legalizing marijuana and condone the
possession, purchase or sale of pot and hemp products by adults 21 and
older.

"This is about controlling and regulating marijuana to take it off the
streets and out of the black market," said Bruce Ritchie, the effort's
executive coordinator.

In addition to legalizing pot for adults, the measure would allow
doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to patients under 21.

East Lansing resident Carrie Hale said she would vote against the
measure. Hale, 71, recalls a speech she heard in the 1970s by a
recovering drug addict who referred to marijuana as a gateway drug.

"That has always stuck with me," she said.

The group has collected about 12,000 of the needed 317,757 valid
signatures for the measure to appear on the ballot.

Signatures must be collected by Oct. 1.

Eleven states have passed medical marijuana laws since 1996, but none
have permitted an outright decriminalization of pot.

Detroit and Ann Arbor passed medical marijuana initiatives last year,
but the new laws are in limbo as the U.S. Supreme Court ponders
whether to allow patients to circumvent a federal ban on marijuana.

This initiative would set up a conflict with the federal Controlled
Substances Act. Ritchie said he's sure passage would be challenged by
the federal government, but believes there's protection for such a
measure in intrastate commerce laws.

Ritchie also said the war on drugs is a failed effort that wastes
taxpayers' money and disrupts the liberty of otherwise law-abiding
citizens. He believes it's more practical to tax and regulate the drug.

"Our prisons are overflowing, and our courts are overcrowded," Ritchie
said. "We provide better protection for our children by taking it off
the streets."

Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III disagrees.

"Seeing how well we have controlled the availability of liquor to
minors, I don't have a lot of faith that this would take pot away from
children," he said.

Dunnings, who also serves as president of the Prosecuting Attorneys
Association of Michigan, said he couldn't speak for the association
but that he personally opposes legalizing marijuana.

"I have never known anybody to be made smarter by the use of
marijuana," Dunnings said.

For the state effort to be successful, the group will need money and
volunteers.

So far nearly 400 volunteers, including about 20 in the Lansing area,
have been gathering signatures, mostly on university and college
campuses and at concerts, Ritchie said.

"It's still a grass-roots movement, excuse the pun," Ritchie
said.

The group has only $3,000 to $4,000 to fund the campaign. Ritchie said
he's hoping to get a $5,000 grant from the Marijuana Policy Project of
Washington D.C.

The group also is raising money through an online raffle.

The prize if the initiative passes: a pound of pot. If it fails: A
trip for two to Amsterdam.

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WHAT'S NEXT

* Win-the-War must collect at least 317,757 valid signatures by Oct.
1.

* The Board of State Canvassers then must verify the signatures'
validity.

* All petitions for proposals on the November 2006 ballot are due by
July 2006.