ALASKA VOTERS HAVE SENT MIXED MESSAGES ON MARIJUANA

Legalization: It Was Rejected in 2000, but Medical Use Was Allowed In
1998; Voters Decide Again Nov. 2.

For the third time since 1998, Alaska voters will get marijuana mixed
in with the candidates, issues and other ballot measures when they go
to the polls Nov. 2.

Ballot Measure 2, which has drawn more cash than almost any ballot
issue in Alaska history, asks once again whether voters want marijuana
to be available without penalties statewide. If the proposal gets the
nod of the majority of those voting, Alaskans 21 and older could under
state law grow, use, sell or give away pot, though such activities
would remain illegal under federal law.

Three polls over the final weeks of the campaign show Ballot Measure 2
losing, but by how much depends on whom you talk to. One shows a
29-point gap between the percentage of voters for and against, another
shows 24 points and the third shows nine.

Alaska voters have leaned both ways in the past. They legalized
marijuana for medical purposes in 1998. Two years later, they turned
down a measure similar to the one on the ballot now, though that
initiative, which included retroactive amnesty and possible
reparations for people convicted of pot crimes, didn't fail as
miserably as some expected given its reach. About 41 percent of voters
gave it a thumbs up.

Fast forward to 2004. Supporters of Ballot Measure 2 -- some back from
the 2000 campaign -- have toned down their initiative to make it more
appealing. Gone, for example, are the amnesty and reparations. And
they've left the measure's language vague enough that, should it pass,
city and state legislators could regulate pot like tobacco or alcohol
and for public safety reasons.

Legalization foes make a formidable team: Gov. Frank Murkowski and his
wife, a deputy White House drug czar sent north with an anti-drug
message, Alaska State Troopers, Anchorage police, the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration, state and federal prosecutors, and the
Alaska State Medical Association, which has about 600 physician members.

This side argues pot is a dangerous gateway drug that, if legalized,
could send the wrong message to kids, exacerbate Alaska's substance
abuse problems, create more work for police, and damage the state's
economy and its relationship with the military.

But the other side contends marijuana is innocuous enough that it
shouldn't be the government's business if adults want to smoke it.
They say the prohibition of pot is a futile enterprise that wastes
millions of tax dollars and argue that if the state would just
regulate it -- perhaps even tax it -- it could save money, kill the
black market and get pot out of kids' hands. At least four groups are
pushing legalization, one with cash from hundreds of Alaskans and
another with at least half a million dollars from the Washington,
D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project. Earlier campaign finance reports
showed that together, they were spending more than 50 times the amount
of the sole opposition group, Alaskans Against the Legalization of
Marijuana/Hemp.

Both sides, when addressing pot's health effects, agree that smoking
it causes an altered state of mind and can cause short-term memory
loss, such as not being able to remember what you ate for dinner the
night before when you were high.

"Nobody disputes it's hard to remember what you do after you smoke a
bowl," said Dr. Tim Hinterberger, a Ballot Measure 2 sponsor and
associate professor for the biomedical program at the University of
Alaska Anchorage.

Dr. Charles Herndon, an MD who opposes Ballot Measure 2, and
Hinterberger also agree that marijuana smoke contains carcinogens.
Herndon said marijuana's delivery system -- the way users take deep
breaths of the unfiltered smoke and hold it -- can lead to lung
diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema, even lung cancer.

But Hinterberger said he knows of no documented cases where lung
cancer was related solely to marijuana. He said he also has never
heard of someone overdosing on pot.

Marijuana might be addictive, according to Herndon. But Hinterberger
referred to a study by two pharmacologists that rated marijuana and
caffeine the least addictive when measured against cocaine, heroin,
alcohol and nicotine.

Much has been said during the campaign about the increased levels in
marijuana of its chief intoxicant, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
Herndon said figures from the DEA show marijuana's potency has
increased drastically from what it was 25 years ago.

Hinterberger said it might be that the average potency has increased
over time, but he doubts it's as high as the DEA says. "The higher
potency per se does not make a more dangerous substance," he said,
explaining that smokers adjust their consumption levels when pot is
more potent. "It's just like drinking whiskey compared to drinking
beer."

Hinterberger said there's no denying there are health concerns related
to smoking pot. But, he said, "even if it were as bad as the most
exaggerated claims, it's still no reason to throw people in jail. We
don't apply that logic to alcohol and we don't apply it to tobacco."

That comparison -- marijuana vs. alcohol -- has arisen often in this
and other legalization movements. Typically, legalization proponents
point out that it is hypocritical to ban pot use while sanctioning the
use of alcohol by most adults, which has devastating effects on Alaska
communities.

A 70-year-old Palmer woman, interviewed after voting for legalization
in 2000, saw it this way: "Liquor is so much worse. If a man gets
drunk, he beats his wife. If he smokes marijuana, he eats her dinner."

Herndon said there is no question the monetary costs of alcohol on
public safety and health are huge. But, he said, "two wrongs don't
make a right."

Herndon said his main objection to legalization is not the possible
detrimental effects marijuana can have on adult users' health. Rather,
he said, he just doesn't buy the opposition's idea that legalization
will make pot harder for kids to get.

"If you legalize it and grow it and sell it, there's more of it on the
street," Herndon said. "It's of great concern when children and
adolescents use psychoactive drugs because they are at a very
vulnerable stage in their brain development."

Backers of Ballot Measure 2 do not quarrel with the assertion that
kids should not be allowed to smoke pot. But they argue that too many
kids already can because prohibition isn't working.

They have pointed to a recent state report that says nearly 50 percent
of Alaska high school students surveyed in 2003 reported using
marijuana at least once, a figure that deputy White House drug czar
Scott Burns called "phenomenal."

Yes On 2 treasurer Ken Jacobus, former counsel for the Republican
Party of Alaska, said it is time for Alaskans to try something new.
Regulate, he said, and you will get rid of the black market and make
pot harder for kids to get while giving adults, including medical
marijuana patients, legal access.

Jacobus said Ballot Measure 2 gives city and state legislators leeway
to allow villages to ban pot use and sales, like many have for
alcohol. It would also allow lawmakers to prohibit driving while high
and limit marijuana use in work and public places, he said.

"They could even tax it if they wanted to," Jacobus said. "I think
because they tax the hell out of everything else they think is a sin,
they'd tax this too."

Matt Fagnani, chairman of Alaskans Against the Legalization of
Marijuana/Hemp and president of the local drug-testing firm WorkSafe
Inc., called the idea of regulation "bunk."

"How do you regulate THC levels? Who sets the standard for how potent
it can be?" he said. "The pro people want this to be settled on a
state-by-state basis. But that's not how drug laws in this country
work. If this is a legitimate fight, in the halls of Congress is where
it needs to begin, not in the easy-to-pick-off states."

Deputy Anchorage police chief Audie Holloway called regulation "a
joke."

"We'd have to set up a whole new regulatory agency," he said,
referring to the state. "And it probably wouldn't even be legal,
because (pot is) still illegal under federal law."

Asked what the federal government would do if Alaska legalizes
marijuana, Burns said it would probably wait for the call from state
officials asking for more federal resources. "Alaska will be the pot
capitol of America if this passes," he said.

David Finkelstein, a former legislator and supporter of Ballot Measure
2, said that when voters passed the medical marijuana initiative in
1998, the Legislature went over it with a fine-tooth comb and added
restrictions, such as a patient registry, and "the federal government
did nothing."

Jacobus said that if the ballot measure wins voter approval, the
conflict between state and federal drug laws would have to be resolved
before there could be the kind of regulation that kills the black market.

He said perhaps Alaska could become a test case for the country on a
new way of doing things. "We're going to have to get help from our
federal representatives," he said, referring to Alaska's congressional
delegation.

Herndon, addressing Ballot Measure 2 supporters' problem of dealing
with federal prohibition, said, "That's the key weakness in their
argument. ... There's no way Congress is going to pass a law that
legalizes marijuana in this country. It's just not going to happen."

Holloway said local police don't go looking for small amounts of
marijuana because it would be a waste of resources. But small amounts
of marijuana are found, he said, because not everyone who smokes pot
stays home and chills out. They drive or get in arguments. They're
involved in robberies, shootings, even homicides.

Even if regulation could work, Holloway said, it's a bad idea. He
referred sarcastically to alcohol: "That's been a huge success story,"
he said. "Let's see, how much does it pay for -- maybe a 10th, maybe a
100th of what it causes in problems? So we're going to add another
thing out there?"

Ballot Measure 2 supporters recently commissioned a study that found
marijuana prohibition costs the state well over $24 million annually.
The report, by Boreal Economic Analysis & Research in Fairbanks, says
those costs are not offset significantly by federal grant monies,
fines or forfeitures. It concludes that even when using the most
favorable figures, marijuana prohibition "is a costly failure."

"We've being doing the same thing for 30 years, and the problem has
just gotten worse," Jacobus said. "We need a new approach."

Daily News reporter Tataboline Brant can be reached at tbrant@adn.com
or 257-4321.

Debate on marijuana measure set for Friday

* Ballot Measure 2: This bill would remove civil and criminal
penalties under state law for persons 21 years or older who grow, use,
sell or give away marijuana or hemp products. State or local
governments could not require a permit or license for personal
cultivation or distribution of marijuana, but could regulate marijuana
like alcohol or tobacco. It removes all existing state restrictions on
prescription of marijuana by a doctor for all patients, including
children. It allows for laws limiting marijuana use in public and to
protect public safety.

* DEBATE: There will be a debate on the marijuana initiative at 6
p.m. Friday at the University of Alaska Anchorage in Room 101 of the
Business Education Building.