WAYNE SOWELL 'STANDS OUT' ON HEMP ISSUE

Birmingham resident Wayne Sowell isn't just poised to become the first
black U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama history to run on a major
party's ticket. He could also become one of the few major-party
candidates anywhere in recent years with a passion for rewriting the
nation's marijuana laws.

On a campaign Web site, Sowell describes marijuana as "God's perfect
plant," urges legalization for everyone 21 and older, and suggests
that members of Congress take heed of the "pot vote."

"We Hempsters pray for God's continued guidance and leadership in this
fight," Sowell concludes. "We will fight for our Hemp rights!!."

After a state Democratic Party subcommittee disqualified a would-be
rival last month, Sowell is poised to be the Democratic
standard-bearer this November against three-term incumbent U.S. Sen.
Richard Shelby , R- Tuscaloosa.

In an interview last week, Sowell, 45, acknowledged smoking marijuana
as a youth but said he stopped after entering the Army and learning of
the possible consequences for indulgence in the banned drug.

Sowell, who listed his main priorities as improving the elementary
education system and saving Social Security, backed away from his call
for legalization, while continuing to support the use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes and the production of hemp as a cash crop.

Still, even that was welcome news to Allen St. Pierre , a spokesman
for the Washington, D.C.-based National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws. Since the 1970s, only a handful of Senate candidates
have endorsed decriminalization of pot, St. Pierre said.

"It makes him stand out," St. Pierre said.

Sowell, who has run unsuccessfully for several other offices, is seen
as a longshot against Shelby. But even if his electoral aspirations go
up in smoke again, Sowell maintains that change is near.

"By the time I'm 50 years old, I intend for it to be legal," he said
last week. "And I intend to sit around the barbecue and have me a good
old time."